InterOil, which is building PNG's first oil refinery, said it has contracted BHP Billiton to run its Falcon survey technology over exploration licences PPL210 and PPL230 to confirm previously identified structures.

"InterOil has all the ingredients for an exciting exploration program and this survey is a cost effective and time saving technique that can identify structures and confirm the final targets for our multi-well drilling program," said the general manager, exploration and production, Andy Carroll.

InterOil said the most prospective targets are the 267m thick "Pale" sandstones cored at Subu-1 and Subu-2. "These sands are below a relatively dense limestone that can be imaged by the Falcon survey, supporting the use of the technology," the company said. "Synthetic modelling has shown that the survey can image the Puri structure in InterOil's PPL 230 that was drilled and flowed 1610 barrels of oil per day in 1957."