UK-based Tullow Oil has discovered oil in the Zaedyus exploration well (GM-ES-1) located in the Guyane Maritime license off French Guiana.
The well, which has been drilled to a depth of 5,711m, has discovered 72m of net oil pay in two turbidite fans and encountered good quality reservoir sands on prognosis.
Tullow said that the Zaedyus well was drilled to test whether the Jubilee-play, successfully established in West Africa, was mirrored on the other side of the Atlantic.
The company will continue the drilling operations and the well will be deepened to over 6,000m to calibrate the deeper geology.
The well will then likely be sidetracked to enable cores to be obtained over the reservoir sections, the company said.
Tullow operates the Guyane Maritime license with a 27.5% interest and its project partners are Shell (45%), Total (25%) and Northpet (2.5%).