The well is the first of a three-well exploitation program targeting zones updip of existing oil production around the Bayou Choctaw salt dome.

The well is targeting several sand reservoirs in the Frio Group where sand development is expected. It has reserves potential of 1.8 million barrels of oil in several zones that are productive down-dip of the well’s location. It will be deviated so as to penetrate each objective zone in an optimal position to a planned true vertical depth of 2775m.

“These targeted reserves of oil have been interpreted from the reprocessed seismic 3-D data,” Icon Energy said in a statement.

“Using new, sophisticated processing techniques developed in the past five years, the target imaging has yielded a much clearer picture of the subsurface and given a better understanding of the undeveloped oil targets. Numerous additional drilling targets surround this first location.”

Horizon said it expects the first well will take about 20 days to drill to total depth.

The well is located in the Victory Financial Lease. Horizon Oil has a 14% interest in the Australian Mineral Interest-1 well and will have a 19.8% interest in the following two wells. Icon has a 19% stake in the lease. The remaining equity is held by operator CLK Energy.

Another Australian joint venture, comprising Perth-headquartered juniors Amadeus Energy and First Australian Resources, as well as private US interests, recently drilled the Schwing A-1 well in the Bayou Choctaw area but it was a dry hole.