Tullow Oil has announced the successful testing of a second zone in the Suri gas well onshore Pakistan.

The Sui Main interval flowed gas at a maximum rate of 18.1 million standard cubic feet of gas a day. The Ranikot zone, the first zone tested in the well, had earlier flowed at a rate of 12.2 million standard cubic feet. Tullow managing director, Mr Aidan Heavey said the flow rates were "extremely good" in each of the zones and the quality of the gas was also very good.

The Suri field is just 10 kilometres away from Tullow's Sara development, which is due to start production in the first quarter of 1998, and the pipeline from the Sara field to the Guddu power station runs less than a kilometre away from the Suri field, making it easy to develop, he said.

`We will more than likely be linking the gas from Suri in with this development so we will get it on stream very quickly," Mr Heavey said.

Testing of a third zone, the Sui Upper, will begin today and results are expected early next week.

Tullow's share price, which has risen by over 20 per cent in the last two weeks in London, slipped 4p to 122p on some profit-taking after the announcement. In Dublin, it was down 2p at 138p.