Spudded in early January, the Emu Apple-3 well was drilled to a total depth of 1484m and made a new oil pool discovery in the Hutton Sandstone.

Good oil shows were reported in the Hutton, Boxvale and Lower Evergreen Sandstone, after which wireline logs were run and two drill stem tests undertaken.

“Drill stem test one over the Boxvale Sandstone interval (1392-1405m) recovered 1.7 barrels of oil and 2.3 barrels of mud filtrate and water over a two-hour flow period,” Origin Energy said.

“Drill stem test two over the Hutton Sandstone interval (1348-1356m) recovered 6.1 barrels of oil and 2.6 barrels of mud filtrate and water over a two-hour flow period.”

The well has now been cased and suspended as a future producer from the Hutton, Boxvale and, depending on cased hole evaluation, the Lower Evergreen Sandstone.

It joins the previous Emu Apple-2 well, which was completed as a Boxvale production well.

These two appraisal wells come 18 months after the oil field was discovered with the Emu Apple-1 wildcat.

Emu Apple-2 is 400m northwest of the discovery well, while Emu Apple-3 is 420m to the southwest.

Interests in the drilling program are Origin's wholly owned subsidiary Angari 67.5%, Origin Energy CSG Ltd 22.5% and Santos QNT 10%.