Oil and gas explorer Tullow Oil has described its drilling of the Enyenra-2A appraisal well in the Deepwater Tano licence offshore Ghana as an “exceptional result”.

Tullow said drilling successfully encountered oil in excellent quality sandstone reservoirs, with solid evidence of communication with the Owo-1 well, confirming that the discovery is a major light oil field.

It said that results of drilling, wireline logs, samples of reservoir fluids and pressure data had shown that Enyenra-2A intersected 21 metres of net oil pay in the upper channel and 11 metres of net oil pay in the lower channel.

"The discovery of oil this far down-dip in Enyenra-2A, and the confirmation of its communication with the Owo-1 oil discovery, is an exceptional result," the firm said in a statement.

"This represents a major step forward in the appraisal of the Enyenra-Tweneboa area and is highly encouraging for our target to declare commerciality later this year."

Tullow owns a 49.95 per cent stake in the Deepwater Tano licence. Overall, Tullow’s average production this year is forecast to be between 86,000 barrels a day and 92,000 a day. In 2010 it was 58,100 barrels.

In January, the group said that oil revenues for 2010 were $1.1 billion (€800 million) compared with $916 million the previous year.

Tullow expects to spend $1.5 billion on exploration and development this year, compared with $1.2 billion last year.

Shares in the London listed firm increased by 3.8 per cent this morning to £14.54.