Spudded on Sunday by InterOil's Rig 2 in Petroleum Retention Licence 15, the well is about 1km south of Antelope-1 and 2.6km north of its game-changing Antelope-2 well.

This well flowed 705 million cubic feet of gas per day in late 2009, while it also yielded 11,200 barrels of condensate per day.

Meanwhile, InterOil's Rig 3 will spud the Elk-3 well after roadway preparations from its Hou Creek upstream supply base and camp are complete.

Completion of this well will meet InterOil's first two-year work requirements for PRL 15.

"We are pleased to resume our development drilling activities on both the Antelope Reef

and separate Elk fault block in PRL 15," InterOil chief executive officer Phil Mulacek said.

"Our upstream development team has identified further delineation drilling locations in both fields, which are the backbone of our planned Gulf LNG Project."