West African explorer BowLeven (LON:BLVN) revealed today its Sapele-1 well in the Douala Basin off the coast of Cameroon has confirmed the presence of oil, condensate and gas at the cretaceous level.
This follows on from the tertiary discoveries made earlier in the drilling campaign and suggests Douala could potentially be a major, multiple interval discovery.
Sapele-1 was drilled to a target depth of 4,733 metres, but work was halted after BowLeven hit a high pressure gas reservoir.
Before the Sapele hole was cemented, exploratory drilling hit a “significant hydrocarbon column”, the company revealed.
The company is contracting a fourth rig with the sole purpose of targeting the tertiary and the cretaceous “fairways”.
Chief executive Kevin Hart said: "In addition to the earlier tertiary discoveries, we are delighted to announce that the ground-breaking Sapele-1 well has now confirmed the presence of oil, condensate and gas across multiple intervals in the cretaceous, further highlighting the significance and potentially transformational nature of this play in the Douala Basin.
“BowLeven has contracted an additional rig that can be used to target both the tertiary and cretaceous substantial prospectivity identified on the acreage.
“This will be integral in formulating the extensive drilling programme for 2011. Sapele-1 results bode well for an exciting and successful campaign in 2011. "