Testing over a 19m interval in the Lower Bahariya Sandstone produced 39.2 degree API oil along with with small quantities of gas.

The next plan is to shut the well in to allow pressure build-up and then to conduct the main flow test before completing the well as a producer.

Meanwhile, the company continues to make progress at its NW Paua-1 ST3 and Cobra-1A wells in Papua New Guinea.

NW Paua-1 ST3 is currently drilling ahead at 3026m after making progress of 143m this week. the well has a planned total depth of 3600m.

The well targets the Toro and Digimu sandstones in a more optimal location on the known hanging-wall structure than the Paua-1x well that was drilled in the mid 1990s, according to Oil Search.

Participants in NW Paua are Oil Search at 52.5% and ExxonMobil at 47.5%.

Oil Search's Cobra-1A made 115m progress for the week and is drilling ahead in a 10 and three-eighth-inch by 12.25 inch hole.

To allow for a larger casing size, the hole is being drilled and opened concurrently.

The well is currently at a depth of 1270m of a planned total depth of 3100m.

Cobra-1 is in petroleum prospecting licence 190, 13km east of the SE Gobe oil field and 7km east of the Bilip oil discovery.

The well is directed at the Iagifu Sandstone - the principal reservoir in the Gobe and SE Gobe fields - in a seismically defined sub-thrust prospect.

Participants in the Cobra-1A are operators Oil Search (62.556%), Murray Petroleum (26.497%) and Cue Energy (10.947%).