They are targeting a highly productive oil and gas trend of the Gulf Coast region of south Texas.

Yesterday, Sun Resources said the Redback exploration project was based on an onshore 3D seismic database covering 393 square kilometres in a small portion of this trend.

To date, this regional trend has produced about 1.2 billion barrels of oil and 6 trillion cubic feet of gas, from near surface to a depth of 10,000 feet (3048m).

In contrast, the objective of the Redback JV, in which Sun and VicPet each hold 37.5% and Wandoo has 25%, is to target the “very under-explored” prospective stratigraphy below 10,000ft.

A pilot “skimming” program of the 3D dataset has already identified seven prospects between 12,000 and 15,000ft, with accompanying seismic attributes suggesting the presence of significant hydrocarbons, according to Sun.

“A number of these prospects have multiple targets with high upside potential for both gas and oil as accompanying condensate,” Sun executive chairman Brad Farrell said.

“One in particular has an upside to 116 billion cubic feet of gas with 6 million barrels of oil, [or] up to 152 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent.”

Sun Resources and VicPet have agreed to pay $US360,000 ($A432,000) to cover six months worth of evaluation of the seismic data.

In return, they get first right of refusal to earn a 75% working interest in any individual prospects generated within the Redback area by drilling a well on individual prospects on a non-promoted ground-floor basis.

The JV aims to drill a high-graded prospect by the end of this year.