Afren plc announces that the Okoro East exploration well, offshore south east Nigeria, has made a new oil discovery having encountered 549 ft true vertical thickness (TVT) of net oil pay and 41 ft of net gas pay in excellent quality reservoir sands. The well result represents a successful start to Afren’s 2012 exploration campaign that will see the Company participate in multiple wells across each of its core areas.

The Okoro East exploration well was spudded on 18 December 2011 and reached a total measured depth of 8,751 ft (8,016 ft true vertical depth), with the Transocean Adriatic lX jack-up drilling rig. The well has successfully encountered oil in the Tertiary reservoir sands equivalent to those that have been developed and are in production at the Okoro main field, in addition to the deeper previously unexplored reservoirs. The discovery of significant pay in the previously unexplored deeper zones opens up further prospectivity at similar levels on the main Okoro field and elsewhere on the block.

The objective of Afren and its partner Amni International Petroleum Development Company Ltd. (“Amni”) was to explore a separate previously un-drilled structure located approximately 2 km east of the Okoro main field. Okoro East is in a similar structural setting with a fault sealed 3-way dip closure in Tertiary reservoir sands at equivalent intervals to the main Okoro Field. In addition, the Okoro East exploration well was targeting a deeper horst block structure, a play concept that had not been previously explored on the block. The prospect was mapped on good quality 3D seismic data.

Logging operations have been completed and the well is now being prepared for testing, after which Afren and its partner Amni will determine the optimal development of the discovery.