JV partner Sun Resources said the drilling campaign started with the spudding of Agavero-1, which like all the wells, is targeting the historic and prolific Frio and Vicksburg sands at less than 2000m depth.

The Agavero-1 well, with a total planned depth of 1341m, is testing 700 million cubic feet of gas potential.

It will be followed by the Dona Carlota-1 and Climaco-1 wells, which are targeting 800MMcf and 1.6 billion cubic feet of gas, respectively.

Like the initial program, any commercial discovery from these three wells will be brought online quickly, as the project area is intersected by a number of gas pipelines.

Each of the first three wells in the El Viejito, Dos Dedos and Milagro prospects have been drilled, completed and tested, with all wells encountering and flowing hydrocarbons.

The El Viejito-1 and Dos Dedos-1 have been put onto production, while Milagro-1 was interpreted as a high gas content oil discovery and subsequently not put online.

The campaign is a precursor to a higher impact program targeting 30-200Bcf of gas in the second half of this year.

Interests in the Margarita project are Empyrean Energy (44%), Victoria Petroleum and Sun Resources each with 20% and Wandoo Energy with 16%.