Oil exploration veteran David Bramhill has succeeded again with Wessex Exploration, his Bristol-based company which floated on AIM earlier this year. Its shares were up more than 25% this morning following an announcement from Tullow Oil that the Zaedyus exploration well – in which Wessex has a share – had tapped into "good quality reservoir sands" off the coast of French Guiana.
The objective of the Zaedyus well was to test whether the Jubilee-play, successfully established in West Africa, was mirrored on the other side of the Atlantic, off the coast of South America.
The statement continued: "This discovery therefore opens a new hydrocarbon basin within which several neighbouring prospects have been mapped. This result also reduces the exploration risk associated with Tullow's prospect inventory offshore French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana. An appraisal programme and extensive follow-up exploration activities will now be considered."
Wessex owns 50% of Northpet, a company that has a 2.5% stake in the Guyane Maritime license. Tullow accounts for 27.5% and is partnered by Shell (45%) and Total (25%) as well as Northpet (2.5%).
