At 6am this morning (CST) the Ginko-1 well was at 3221m and changing out the drill bit, Innamincka said.

Once the bit has been changed, the joint venture will drill ahead to evaluate the lower Patchawarra formation then evaluate with wireline logs. Planned total depth is 3480m.

Innamincka said target depth was 3480m and it was expected drilling would take about 35 days. At 6am this morning (Central Standard Time), the well had reached 1011m and the crew was waiting on cement, having cemented the 244mm surface casing to 1007.8m.

The Ginko prospect is an anticlinal feature along the Coonatie-Lamdina structural trend cross-cutting the central Patchawarra Trough region. Innamincka estimated the potential trap area enclosed by the prospect at 9.3 square kilometres.

"The well will evaluate a number of reservoir targets in the early Triassic-early Permian section," Innamincka said.

"These units flowed gas on drill stem test at rates up to 3 million cubic feet per day in the producing Coonatie field, five kilometres to the south. Based on a pay thickness of five metres, the prospect has the potential to reservoir 24 billion cubic feet of gas in place."

Proximity to nearby facilities should enable connection and production from a discovery at Ginko-1, the company said.

After drilling Ginko-1, the rig will pass to another operator before returning to drill three more exploration wells for Innamincka in the last quarter.

Following the recent farmin by Mid Continent Equipment (Australia), participants in the PEL 101 Block Joint Venture are Innamincka Petroleum Limited (operator) 37.5 %, Vernon E Faulconer Australia Inc 37.5 % and Mid Continent Equipment (Australia) Pty Ltd 25%.