Sundance already has exposure to other oil and gas plays in Indiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Montana.

The Adelaide-based company today said it had acquired a “significant” mineral interest and a working interest in a recently spudded well in the heart of the Williston Basin oil play in Williams County, north Dakota.

Sundance said it had entered into the new play with operator US-based Everston Energy Partners, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Evertson Companies, which owns a 20% stake. Other joint venturers in the prospect include American Oil and Gas (50%) and Teton Energy (25%).

“The Goliath JV represents an important component of Sundance’s continuing commitment to its foundation strategy of securing meaningful interests in large, repeatable resource plays in the United States alongside respected and experienced companies,” managing director Jayme McCoy said.

“This prospect alone has the potential of several hundred gross drilling locations, which should significantly increase the company’s proven reserves as the play develops.”

Sitting on the western flank of the Nesson anticline, the Goliath Prospect lies directly east of the Basin’s famous Elm Couless field, which has produced over 33 million barrels of oil and 19 million cubic feet of gas since 2000.

Sundance said Goliath’s primary target horizon is the oil-bearing Bakken Shale, lying about 10,000 feet deep in the prospect area. Secondary target horizons include the oil-bearing Mission Canyon, Nisku, Duperow and Red River formations.

The company said the JV on September 24 spudded the Champion-1-25H well in the prospect, which is currently at 9120 feet (2780m) and drilling ahead.

Meanwhile, the company also said it had significantly expanded its Indiana project with Evertson by opening up the new Chrisney Prospect, in Warrick and Spencer Counties.

The companies have begun a lease acquisition program in the prospect and plan to assemble a large block of acreage before drilling initial exploratory wells there late next year. The prospect’s target formation is the gas-rich New Albany Shale.

The Evertson group of independent energy and service companies primarily engages in the acquisition, development and exploration of crude oil and natural gas reserves throughout the Rocky Mountain States and South America. The group operates several hundred wells in six states throughout the region, and is the second-largest oil and gas producer in Nebraska, according to Sundance.