LONDON (Alliance News) - Savannah Petroleum PLC on Wednesday said it has made an oil discovery at the Eridal-1 exploration well in south-eastern Niger.
Early results from the well indicate it has found an estimated 13.6 metres of net oil bearing sandstones from the Eocene. The reservoir seems to be good quality, Savannah said, and data suggest it is made up of light oil which is consistent with other recent discoveries.
This is the fourth consecutive oil discovery Savannah has made in its current exploration programme on the R3 part of its R3/R4 production sharing contract area in Niger's Agadem rift basin.
Savannah drilled Eridel-1 to 2,542 metres, with no "significant" geological or other hazards encountered.
The well is now suspended pending re-entry, and Savannah is to perform production tests on at least two of the wells it has made discoveries on, which are planned later in 2018.
Following these discoveries, Savannah has exercised the second of six well options it has with Great Wall Drilling Co Niger SARL.
As a result, a well will move to the Zomo-1 well, located on the R3 part of the asset, with the move set to take between 10 and 15 days.
Chief Executive Andrew Knott said: "We are excited with the success we have delivered to date in Niger. Eridal-1 maintains our 100% exploration success record and marks our fourth discovery in the R3 East Area.
"What was different about Eridal-1 was that we were targeting a structure which had previously been drilled in a down-dip location by a previous operator. Our technical team had a strong view that significant potential existed up-dip and selected the Eridal-1 well accordingly."
He added: "We believe this has contributed meaningful oil resource additions to support the development of our proposed early production scheme."
Savannah Petroleum shares were trading flat at 25.70 pence on Wednesday.
