Advance said independent US oil and gas company EOG is participating as part of a 16,000 acre (6475 hectares) project to prospect for the western extension of the Barnett Shale field, the largest onshore gas field in the US.

EOG recently began drilling their first horizontal Barnett Shale well in the program, about two miles north of Advance’s acreage.

Advance said it would be a “significant” test of the productive nature of the shales in Palo Pinto County.

Under the deal, EOG will have access to the Barnett Shale surface in order to acquire and record seismic responses.

Once finished, it will process the data in Texas and North American Energy will have rights to the data across the 1200 acres Advance owns.

Advance is carried in the project and said it will not have to pay its pro-rata share of about $US100,000 ($A129,500).

The company also said it has decided to delay drilling its Kramer-5 and Conglomerate wells by two to three months until the seismic data has been analysed.

It said this would give North American Energy a better subsurface view of the Conglomerate reservoir and allow for full assessment of the Barnett Shale.

Advance said if the shale is found to be productive in the area, it would drill up to three horizontal wells that will each have estimated reserves of 2 billion cubic feet of gas.

If unproductive, Advance will still complete the two Conglomerate wells and said it would be able to locate them in a way that “penetrates the optimum point of the reservoir” because of the seismic picture.