The offshore US-focused mid-cap posted a lower production and revenue result for the September quarter following third-party pipeline maintenance that shut-in output from its Vermilion and West Cameron facilities for most of last month.

Production for the period was 1.797 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), or 24% lower than the previous quarter, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, depletion, amortisation and exploration (EBITDAX) was 37% lower at $US8.4 million ($A11.2 million).

Despite the shut-in, Petsec said its year to date production of 6.421Tcf was still 6% higher than in the nine months to September 2005, which helped push its EBITDAX up 7% to $36.2 million.

At the end of the quarter, the Perth-based company had $11.9 million in cash, after spending $7.5 million on exploration and development and $10.6 million for the acquisition of 33 more GoM leases.

Last week, Petsec announced that the first well to be drilled on the newly acquired leases – Mobile Bay 951-1 – made a gas discovery and has now been cased for production.

Then this morning, Petsec said its Mobile Bay 950-1 well, targeting 4-8 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent (Bcfe) reserves, spudded on Sunday.

It is to be drilled to a proposed total depth of 1021m in about eight to 10 days.

Petsec said it expects successful wells can be brought into production within four months of completing this drilling program.

Mobile Bay 951-1 was also the first well to be drilled on the portfolio of 33 leases that Petsec acquired in August, which has unrisked targets of 157Bcfe of gas and 28 million barrels of oil net to the company.

The drilling program is being conducted on the Mobile Bay 950, 951 and 873 leases, about 160km east of New Orleans and targeting a total of 6-10Bcfe of gas net to Petsec.

The company holds a 50% working interest and 39.42% net revenue interest in Mobile Bay 950.