Cooper Energy has confirmed its Perlubie South well in the Cooper Basin in South Australia as a new oil discovery after reporting five metres of oil shows last week.

The company said today preliminary evaluation of a logging program showed Perlubie South 1 had intersected an oil column between 1313 metres and 1316 metres.

"The oil water contact appears to be very similar to that encountered in Perlubie-1, which lies just to the north," the company said in a statement.

Cooper said production from the new field would likely by tied to the existing production system at the nearby Perlubie oil field.

Estimates of recoverable oil will be announced once post-drill mapping and volumetric parameters have been finalised, the company said.

Cooper said its Ensign 30 rig would now move to the Butlers-1 well.

Cooper shares were unchanged at 49.5 cents at 11am.

STUART McKINNON