OREANDA-NEWS. Shell today announced a frontier exploration discovery offshore Gabon, West Africa. The well Leopard-1 encountered a substantial gas column with around 200 metres net gas pay in a pre-salt reservoir.

Leopard-1 is located around 145 kilometres off the Gabonese coast, west of Gamba. It was drilled in water 2,110 metres deep to a total vertical depth of 5,063 metres. Shell and partners are planning to undertake an appraisal programme to further determine the resource volumes.

"Shell has been exploring in Gabon for over 50 years. This latest deep-water discovery is a testament to the innovation of our explorers in pursuing new plays, and application of our global sub-surface expertise," said Andy Brown, Shell Upstream International Director. "We are proud to be sharing this success with CNOOC Limited, our partner in the licence."

Leopard-1 was drilled in licence BCD10, operated by Shell (75%). Second partner in the venture is CNOOC Limited (25%).

This frontier discovery follows recent deep-water exploration successes in the heartlands for Shell Exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and Malaysia.