Tullow shares soar after oil discovery off French Guiana

TULLOW Oil shares soared almost 20% after its French Guiana exploration resulted in an offshore oil discovery, raising the prospect of the opening of a major offshore oil-producing operation in South America.

The company, and others, have made big offshore discoveries in Ghana, namely the multi-billion barrel Jubilee field, and an oil strike in Sierra Leone that suggests the finds extend all along the Western African coast.

Tullow’s Zaedyus well in French Guiana, drilled in more than 2,000 metres of water and at a cost of some $200 million (€146m), was tapping rock formations laid before Africa and South America separated millions of years ago.