In a statement yesterday, Johnson said the Cooper Basin-focused company could move ahead “swiftly” to bring this oil field into production, now that Santos has agreed to buy a half-stake in ATP 543P and Seoul City Gas Company will become its partner in PEL 103.

“During the year ahead we hope to address the tantalising possibility that the Flax oil field and the Juniper oil field are connected and form a much larger field,” Johnson said.

“We will also be exploring with Santos in ATP 543P (South).”

To fund the initial development of Flax, the company intends to undertake a capital raising in the first half of this year.

At the beginning of last year, an independent team determined Flax had the potential to contain 3.2 million barrels (MMbbl) of mean oil reserves, while the Yarrow oil field was estimated to have 22.8 billion cubic feet of gas and Juniper with 65.8MMbbl of oil.

The consultants’ review of ATP 543 South was less favourable than PEL 103. The report said the total unrisked mean in-place potential for the leads and prospects was 32MMbbl of oil, with a potential recoverable resource of about 11MMbbl.

However, it warned the permit was high risk because oil migration had not been demonstrated into this marginal part of the Cooper Basin.

PEL 103 is Innamincka’s main oil and gas permit, in which it now holds a 75% interest. It holds half of ATP543P.