The company has drilled the well to a total depth of 4,480metres and the well is being suspended for future re-entry, having extended the previously defined play fairways at the Paleocene and shallower Tertiary intervals.

The company said that further eight metres of net hydrocarbon pay intersected in deeper reservoirs, in addition to 11metres of net pay within Deep Omicron interval announced earlier.

Bowleven chief executive Kevin Hart said Sapele-3 is the company’s fourth consecutive well in the Douala basin to encounter significant hydrocarbon intervals at multiple levels.

"The discoveries made in the Epsilon Complex and shallower Tertiary intervals, representing a total of 19 metres of net hydrocarbon bearing pay, have at each level extended considerably the previously defined play fairway boundaries," Hart said.