Aberdeen-based Dana Petroleum said yesterday it had found gas with an exploration well off the coast of Mauritania.
The firm said Cormoran-1 well had been drilled to 15,403 feet below sea level and had been plugged and abandoned as a gas discovery.
Stabilised gas flow rates of 22-24million standard cubic feet per day were obtained during a test of one of the four separate gas columns encountered by the well.
The water depth is about 5,347ft.
Cormoran-1 is located in Block 7 and lies near the Pelican-1 gas discovery well, drilled in late 2003.
The primary purpose of the Cormoran-1 well was to test the Cormoran prospect, which adjoins but is at a greater depth than the Pelican discovery.
A secondary exploration objective was the Petronia prospect, which lies beneath Cormorant.
A further objective of the well was to provide appraisal information on the Pelican gas discovery.
Dana chief executive Stuart Paton said: “We are very encouraged by the results of the Cormoran-1 well which has both provided positive information on the Pelican discovery and established the presence of gas-bearing reservoirs at several deeper stratigraphic levels.
“However, there remain substantial challenges in commercialising a gas discovery in such water depths.
“Our future work programme will concentrate on the evaluation of the data gained from the Cormoran-1 well, both in terms of the gas accumulations penetrated by the well and the exploration potential elsewhere in Block 7.”
Dana has 36% of Block 7, while GDF Suez has 27.85%, Tullow Petroleum 16.2%, PC Mauritania I 15% and Roc Oil 4.95%.
Dana is a subsidiary of the Korean National Oil Corporation.