Cairn Energy (LON:CNE) shares advanced in early deals after it revealed the success of an appraisal well, offshore Senegal.
The oil firm told investors that SNE-2, the first of three planned wells to evaluate the November 2014 discovery, had encountered high quality ‘pay’ (12 metres) which flowed at a constrained rate of 8,000 barrels per day.
It also flowed from another interval, described as relatively low quality, at a rate of 1,000 bopd.
Initial indications indicate it is the same 32 degree API quality oil as seen in the prior SNE-1 well.
Simon Thomson, Cairn chief executive, described the well results as “significant” and said they demonstrate that the discovered reservoirs are able to flow at commercially viable levels.
“The results help to confirm the overall scale and extent of the resource base in Senegal and further appraisal activity is expected to lead to future revision of the estimates,” Thomson said.
“We now eagerly look forward to the results of the SNE-3 well."
SNE-2 was drilled in a water depth of 1,200 metres, approximately 100 kilometres off the Senegal coast. It had a total depth of 2,800 metres. And was located some 3 kilometres from the SNE-1 discovery well.
Cairn Energy shares rose 9p, 5.7%, in early deals to trade at 166.7p each.