EXPLORATION FIRM Tullow Oil has announced the discovery of a new oil field in Africa.

In a statement yesterday, the company said the Owo-1 exploration well off Ghana had intersected a significant column of light oil. It said tests had established Owo-1 as a major new oil field and further appraisal was required.

The well is located about 6km (3.7 miles) to the west of the Tweneboa wells.

“Owo-1 has made a very substantial light oil discovery and continues the success of Tullow’s Equatorial Atlantic exploration campaign in West Africa,” said exploration director Angus McCoss.

“Given this success, we are immediately drilling an appraisal sidetrack to further assess the size of this find. Accelerated appraisal drilling will now focus on maturing the resources in both Owo and the adjacent Tweneboa accumulation towards commercialisation.”

Tullow has a 49.5 per cent share in the Deepwater Tano licence and is partnered by Kosmos Energy Ghana, Anadarko Petroleum, Sabre Oil Gas, and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation.

“This is a big well and a big result for Tullow. We’ve got here a very substantial light-oil discovery,” said Mr McCoss in a phone interview.

“It’s really looking to be another transformational oil field for Ghana.”

Tullow, which plans to start oil production from the Jubilee field off Ghana this year, also discovered the Tweneboa offshore field in the African nation.

Tullow rose as much as 5.9 per cent to 1,249 pence a share, its biggest intraday gain since July 2nd, and was 4.6 per cent higher at 1,233 pence at 3:07pm.

Mr McCoss declined to give any guidance on Owo’s possible oil resources pending further appraisal of the discovery.

Tullow had been targeting a 1.4 billion-barrel find of oil in the Owo-Tweneboa-Ntomme area off Ghana, according to a July 1st company presentation.

“We are going to be partitioning the greater Tweneboa area into a very substantial, highly pressured oil field at Owo and the neighbouring major oil and gas condensate field at Tweneboa,” Mr McCoss said.

Tullow and Anadarko, based near Houston, are exploring African fields off Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

“We expect to resume the westward expansion of our exploration activity in the Cretaceous Fan play, where we’ve identified more than 30 prospects and leads with size and geologic characteristics similar to the Jubilee field,” Bob Daniels, Anadarko’s senior vice president for worldwide exploration, said in a separate statement.

– (Additional reporting Bloomberg)