Spudded in January, the Citrus-7 well was originally designed to appraise a shallow gas find made by operator Orchard on the adjacent Southeast Lost Hills acreage.

Although gas shows were present in the shallower Pliocene sands, the review of the wireline logs showed they were water-wet.

On deepening the well, Orchard found that the quality of the hydrocarbon shows and reservoir quality improved.

But the JV had to wait until last month before a suitable rig could be found to investigate further.

Nuenco managing director Anthony Kain said the oil shows were consistent with those in producing wells to the north.

“The good oil shows on the mud log have appeared where we expected to see them in this well and they extended over about 150 feet,” he said.

“Also encouraging is the drilling breaks indicated by the rate of penetration. Associated with these good oil shows is a jump in the rate of penetration of the drill bit and we think this indicates natural fracturing which we are targeting to enhance recovery from the Monterey.”

Nuenco holds a 20% stake in the well, while Orchard, which was taken over in April by a subsidiary of Crosby Partners, has 35%.