Cooper told the Australian Securities Exchange that oil shows were recorded in the Callawonga-3, in the northern part of the PEL 92 field, while drilling through the Namur reservoir.

Callawonga-3 is the second a three well appraisal-development drilling program to develop the Callawonga oil reserves.

The Namur reservoir is the productive horizon in the field, and is being produced from the Callawonga-1 discovery well.

Beach as operator plans to continue drilling Callawonga-3 ahead to a total planned depth of 1943m and run wireline logs to confirm the extent of the oil column.

Production testing is not planned in this well as the Namur Reservoir has flowed at rates of 2400 and 4992 barrels of oil per day across similar zones in Callawonga-1 and -2 respectively, Cooper said.

Beach holds a 75% stake in the Callawonga field, while Cooper has 25%.