Company managing director Raymond Shaw said there would be no more reports for Paprika-1, which was now having 7-inch production casing cemented in place prior to the release of the Ensign Rig #30.

Three attempts to obtain a gas flow by drill stem test had failed because of mechanical problems.

Nonetheless, prior gas shows while drilling, interpretation of wireline data and pressure sampling indicated at least two zones capable of flowing hydrocarbons.

Shaw said further cased-hole testing would be conducted in coming months, once a suitable workover rig had been contracted.

Paprika-1 tested an anticlinal structure about 13km southwest of the new Cadenza-1 gas discovery, 7.5km northwest of the new Rossco-1 gas discovery, 10km south of the Nulla field, and 7.4km north of the Smegsy field.

Last Wednesday night, Paprika-1 reached a total depth of 2919m in the Merrimelia Formation, with main targets in the Patchawarra Formation.

Additional secondary potential is anticipated within the underlying Tirrawarra Formation and based on nearby well penetrations, there could be up to 50m of stacked net sand with pre-drill estimates of gas in-place ranging from 9 billion cubic feet (P90), to 30 bcf (P50) and 70 bcf (P10).

Paprika-1 is being fully funded by farminees Kompliment (a subsidiary of Energy Investments) and Traditional Oil Exploration (a subsidiary of Enterprise Energy). It is the fourth well drilled within PEL 106 this year.

All previous wells – Udacha-1, Middleton-1 and Cadenza-1 – have been cased and suspended as new field gas discoveries and potential future gas-condensate producers from the Patchawarra Formation.