The Janovice block is located in northern Moravia, some 20 kilometres south of the major industrial centre of Ostrava and only five kilometres from the company's 50%-owned Krasna oil field.

Carpathian said that even though a natural gas reservoir was discovered in the Janovice block during the communist era and recoverable reserves were established within earshot of two discovery wells, no production had occurred.

"The Miocene Karpat sandstone reservoir is divided into two sections by a fault. The deeper section (1,030m vertical depth to top of reservoir sandstone) contains recoverable (proved and probable) gas reserves of 1.058 billion cubic feet; the shallower section (886m vertical depth) contains recoverable reserves of 590 million cubic feet," Carpathian told the stock exchange.

"Excellent potential exists for substantially increasing the gas reserves by further drilling. Nevertheless, initial plans are to twin the two original discovery wells and produce the established reserves."