Australia's oil and gas exploration and production company Carnarvon Petroleum Limited (Carnarvon) reported Thursday that it has been advised by Apache, the Operator of the WA-435-P permit in Western Australia, that the spud date for the Phoenix South-1 well is likely to be in the second quarter of calendar year 2014. 

Apache has advised the reason for the change in spud date is due to Apache’s operational timetable incorporating their other projects. 

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Adrian Cook said, “While we understand that this timing might be disappointing for some shareholders, the moving of the spud date to later in the first half of this year significantly reduces the risk of cyclone activity affecting the drilling of the Phoenix South-1 well, which then will reduce the likelihood of exceeding the recently increased well cap.”