In a statement yesterday, Comet said the 8 square mile (12.87 square kilometre) survey would cover a significant part of the old Florence oil field in Colorado and overlaps a smaller survey shot by its US partners in 2004.

Comet’s partners in the Florence redevelopment are Strike Oil and AJ Lucas, which each have a 26% working interest in the project.

Data from the survey is expected to provide critical subsurface view of fracture patterns that control oil production from the Pierre and Niobrara formations, Comet said.

It plans to use the directional drilling capability developed at Tow Creek to redevelop the field, which has produced about 15 million barrels of oil in its 144-year history.

The Florence oil field is located nearby the West Florence exploration project, in which three Australian companies, Victoria Petroleum, Fall River Resources and Adelaide Energy, are involved.

This JV, led by Mountain Petroleum, has recently spudded the first well on the West Florence play, which is estimated to contain 100-200 billion cubic feet of recoverable gas in the Muddy J sandstone.

Comet said the Muddy J Formation, which also underlies its acreage, was virtually untested.

The main targets in Comet’s program are the shallower Pierre, Niobrara and Codell formation reservoirs, where it estimates contains a further 15 million barrels of oil potential.

Last week, Comet also won a further 160-acre lease south of its existing acreage.