Mulberry-17 in permit PL 39 was cased and suspended as a future oil producer on Monday, encountered about 2m of oil pay in the Birkhead reservoir unit.

Meanwhile, rig PDI-735 has been rigged up at the Gimboola-5 delineation well in permit PL 169, which spudded on Tuesday. The rig was released from Mulberry-17 to the Gimboola-5 delineation well on Monday. Drillsearch is currently drilling the surface hole.

Elsehwere, Rig PDI-724 is drilling Endeavour-8 in permit PL 57, which has encountered good oil shows. Forward operations are to drill to total depth and then run wireline logs for reservoir evaluation.

At the Chancett-1 near field exploration well, rig PDI-721 has been rigged up and the well was expected to spud late yesterday.

Interests in the Tintaburra Block are operator Santos, which holds an 89% stake, Drillsearch Energy (10%) and CPC Energy (1%).