Spudded nearly a month ago, Blackwood-1 was drilled in a 12.25-inch hole to a total depth of 3286m.
MEO told the market yesterday that during drilling the well encountered elevated gas readings in the interpreted Flamingo and Plover sandstone units.
No carbon dioxide was recorded by mud gas sampling, suggesting the gas would be low in CO2.
However, the gas quality is still to be confirmed by modular dynamics testing (MDT), downhole sampling and subsequent analysis.
The West Atlas jack-up rig is acquiring a full spread of logging data, including image and sidewall core samples. MDT testing will be undertaken later today to recover pore pressure data and gas samples.
Initial log interpretation indicates a total gross hydrocarbon column of 126m, comprising an upper Flamingo gross sand unit at a depth of 3136-3149m and a lower Plover gross sand unit at 317- 3262m.
"This column is considerably in excess of the anticipated most likely ‘mid case' pre-drill estimate of 57 metres," MEO said.
"Data acquisition and interpretation is ongoing and subsequent releases detailing the significance of the Blackwood-1 drilling results will be made in due course."
MEO is drilling Blackwood-1 on a sole-risk basis.
