Shares in oil & gas company Cairn Energy (LON:CNE) rose after it reported upbeat tests on a well in Senegal.
Cairn said it was delighted with positive flow tests on the SNE-2 appraisal well, which it said confirmed the commercial potential of the SNE discovery.
Further appraisal activity this year will test the overall scale and extent of the resource base in Senegal and was expected to lead to revision of the resource estimates.
Drilling operations on the next appraisal well, SNE-3, were also now underway, the company added.
Cairn, which also has operations in the North Sea, Norway, Mauritania and Morocco, said it remained fully funded from existing financial resources to carry out its exploration and appraisal programme.
The company would also be able to take its North Sea developments through to free cash-flow generation in 2017.
It added that International arbitration proceedings to resolve a retrospective tax issue in India had now formally begun.
Forecast development expenditure for 2016 and 2017, taking UK development projects through to cash flow generation, was US$492mln.