This week pressure measurements were taken in the Digimu and Toro sands while a fluid sample collection was attempted in the latter.

Oil Search said logging had been prolonged this week as tools were conveyed using drillpipe.

So far the pressure gradients in the Toro sandstone are inconclusive due to variability in the data quality.

Pressurised samples taken will be examined shortly.

NW Paua-1 ST3 targets the Toro and Digimu sandstones in a more optimal location on the known hanging-wall structure than the Paua-1x well, drilled in the mid 1990s.

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

Meanwhile, drilling at Oil Search's Cobra-1 well has penetrated the secondary Hedinia target and elevated gas readings have been recorded.

Drilling is almost 95% complete as it reaches a depth of 2946m of its total planned depth of 3100m.

Progress for the week was 558m with the well now pulling out of hole for a bit change.

Cobra-1A is directed at the Iagifu sandstone - the principal reservoir in the Gobe and SE Gobe fields - in a seismically defined sub-thrust prospect.

Oil Search said Cobra-1 is the first well in PNG to target a sub-thrust play as the primary target.

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