Operator AWE this morning said that the well flowed that rate, almost twice that of the Senecio-3 discovery well, was from just the first of two zones, with the exciting Kingia Sandstone deep gas play still to be tested in Waitsia-1.

The L1/L2 joint venture testing program is designed to determine well deliverability from the two conventional reservoir zones and to collect gas samples for compositional analysis.

The High Cliff Sandstone contains a 23.5m interval below 3382m.

"This is an excellent result and confirms the production potential of the conventional High Cliff Sandstone in the field," AWE managing director Bruce Clement said.

"We now have two successful well tests at Senecio-3 and Waitsia-1, and we are moving forward confidently with our plans for the first stage of development".

The Waitsia-1 well will now be shut in for a brief pressure build-up survey prior to a series of flow tests at various choke settings, rates and well head pressures.

Following completion of testing on the High Cliff Sandstone, it is planned to set a plug to isolate the lower interval prior to commencing testing of the Kingia Sandstone.

A similar well test program will be conducted on the 15m interval from 3333m over the coming weeks.

The Kingia test in Senecio-3 flowed at 12.3MMcfpd.

Origin and AWE each hold 50% of L1 and L2, however Origin is in the market to sell out, and it should be able to command a premium now that the past three wells in the Perth Basin appear to have added more than 700 billion cubic feet of recoverable resources,

The 721Bcf total includes both 2P and 2C resources for the Waitsia conventional gas discovery and the Senecio, Irwin and Synaphea tight gas fields.

The Perth Basin has produced around 700Bcf since the 1960s.

AWE has confirmed it is looking to rapid development scenarios that could see the field in production within nine months, with a pipeline planned between Senecio-3 and Waitsia-1 wells to the Xyris production facility, located near the Waitsia-2 well.

The gas has 93% methane and requires only minimal processing.

AWE shares were up 16.7% to $0/.852 this morning, while Origin was up 4.4% to $5.80.