The well which was spudded in late February is at a depth of 6661 feet of the planned 7309 feet.

Twenty-inch casing was set at 204ft, and operator CITIC has set three lots of casing since then, with the last being 7-inch casing set above the target Manusela formation at 6705ft.

Late last week, the well was drilling ahead with the directional bottom-hole assembly at 6661ft.

The continued drilling will be in a 6 and 1/8-inch hole down to the Manusela formation.

According to Lion, the Neif Utara A prospect is an elongated thrust and reverse fault controlled four-way dip closed anticline, at the southeast end of the Oseil high trend, along the Oseil East Neif anticlinorium.

The primary target, the Manusela Carbonate, is erpreted to be similar in reservoir characteristics to the nearby Oseil oilfield, which is producing around 4000 barrels of oil per day.

The Seram (Non Bula) block is Lion's sole petroleum asset after it sold out of five leases in the Gulf of Mexico in November.

The company is the smallest stakeholder in the block with a 2.5% interest. Operator CITIC has 51%, Kufpec has 30% and Gulf Petroleum Investment has 16.5%.

and Gulf Petroleum Investment has 16.5%.