The company said a full log evaluation will be undertaken once the deeper Digimu Sandstone has been drilled.
Progress for the week was 141m and the sidetrack of the well is at a 3226m of its total planned depth of 3600m.
NW Paua-1 ST3 is targeting the Toro and Digimu sandstones in a more optimal location on the known hanging-wall structure than the Paua-1x well, drilled in the mid 1990s.
Participants in NW Paua are Oil Search at 52.5% and ExxonMobil at 47.5%.