Tullow Oil slumped to a four-month low in London trading yesterday after failing to make a commercial find at the Zaedyus-2 well off French Guiana in South America.

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.

PROVIDENCE Resources said seismic testing results at one of its British-based assets show it could hold significantly more oil than estimated.

Hereward Ventures plc has said it signed a farm-in agreement with Northern Petroleum (GB) Ltd, a wholly owned unit of Northern Petroleum plc, to buy 10% of the onshore oil and gas exploration licence that covers parts of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

AN oil exploration group was yesterday celebrating what it described as probably the most significant onshore discovery of oil in Britain for two decades.