In a drilling update today, Roc said the Premium Wilcraft jack-up rig was still sitting at the previous well in the program, Frankland-2, located 26km south of Dunsborough-1 in WA-286-P.

The rig was originally meant to start moving to this well location in early March, but has been held up in the offshore Perth Basin due to bad weather.

Joining Roc, as operator with a 37.5% stake in WA-286P, is Arc Energy (30%), AWE Oil (27.5%), CIECO Exploration & Production (5%).

Meanwhile in China, Roc says it has plugged and abandoned the Wei 6-12E-1A exploration well as planned and has decided not to drill the Wei 12-2N-1 well for several operational reasons.

The first well in the program, Wei 6-12W-1, was also plugged and abandoned as a duster.

As well as Roc (operator - 40%), the JV also involves Horizon Oil (30%) Petsec Energy (25%) and First Australian Resources (5%).

In other company news, Roc said the Khop-1 exploration well, offshore Mauritania, was approaching total depth, and in the North Sea the Ocean Princess rig was preparing to sidetrack the 30/3a-3 water injection well at the Blane oil field.