Hopes for the emergence of a significant new oil province for Australia have been fired up by news of the discovery by the Dorado-1 well drilled off the north-west coast, which some are hailing as potentially one of the biggest finds on the North West Shelf.

Shares in junior partner Carnarvon Petroleum jumped 57 per cent after the explorer reported what chief executive Adrian Cook described as a "transformational" result from the drilling at the site north of Port Hedland.