The Kurdistan-focused explorer, which has a 75% stake in the Shaikan block, started drilling the Shaikan-2 well in December and said it hoped for a significant increase in its resource estimates.

The oil flow was encountered in a 44m interval (1,792m to 1,836m) in the Jurassic age formation of the well.

The company is currently conducting a test, which is expected to continue for another three days to obtain further results.

Shaikan-2 is the first deep appraisal well to be drilled on the Shaikan structure.

The well is drilling approximately 9km to the south-east of the Shaikan-1 discovery well.