Over the weekend, newly listed Adelaide Energy Limited spudded its wholly owned Jacaranda Ridge-2 oil appraisal well 7km west of Penola in PEL 255 in the Otway Basin.

The area was last drilled in 1999 with the non-commercial Jacaranda Ridge-1 oil discovery which produced 950 barrels of oil on test.

The company has contracted Century Rig 11 for Jacaranda Ridge-2 which is to be drilled to a total depth of 2650m over the next 20 days or so.

“We do not expect to have any initial results until after production casing is set in approximately 14 days time,” Adelaide Energy managing director Carl Dorsch said today.

Jacaranda Ridge-2 is the first in a five-well program planned in its first year by Adelaide Energy, which listed on the ASX only last month. The schedule includes:

• One well in 2007/2008 in the 100% owned Nappamerri Trough (PEL 218) in SA’s Cooper Basin;

• Two back-to-back wells in 2007 to earn a 16.7% interest in PEL 105, also in the Cooper Basin; and

• One 2007 well to earn a 15% interest in a 12,000 acre oil and gas lease in the Florence Basin in Colorado, USA.

“The Jacaranda Ridge area is highly prospective, and the previous discovery in the late 1990s was not able to be more fully exploited,” Dorsch said. “With the significant increase in oil price since that time and subject to further discovery, the region has the potential now to be commercially productive.”

At Jacaranda Ridge-2, Adelaide Energy will seek to develop potential pay in two reservoirs.