But the news was not so good at the Naccowlah Block, where the company was forced to plug and abandon the Carney South-1 well after only trace oil shows – and no pay – was encountered in the Hutton Formation.

While the project has had a very high success rate – 76% success rate in the first 40 wells drilled – as it advances more wells are likely to be genuine exploration plays, and the success rate is likely to fall as a result, according to Santos.

The rig has now moved from Carney South-1 to spud the next well, Naccowlah-3, in the program.

Meanwhile at Tintaburra, the rig is being moved to spud the second directional development well, Mulberry-31, according to Drillsearch.

The previous well, Mulberry-32, was suspended for oil production, after intersecting the primary Birkhead Formation target at a depth of 1270 metres.

The Tintaburra partners are: Santos (operator - 89%), Drillsearch Energy (10%) and CPC Energy (1%).

Interests at Naccowlah are: Santos (operator – 55.5%), Beach Petroleum (38.5%), Australian Gasfields (2%), Inland Oil (2%) and Drillsearch (2%).