A drill stem test of the lower reservoir unit at SNE-2 flowed oil at a constrained rate of 8000 barrels of oil per day (stabilised), which they said confirming high primary reservoir deliverability.

A DST of the upper "heterolithic" reservoir unit flowed oil at a maximum rate of about 1000bopd (unstable), which the partners said highlighted the potential for those upper units to make a material contribution to the resource and production volumes of the SNE discovery.

They said that while the interval was unstable due to the 4.5 inch DST tubing, the result nonetheless result confirmed the potential of the "heterolithic" reservoir units to produce at viable rates and make a material contribution to SNE oil resource and production volumes.

Yesterday's news revealed that SNE-2 appeared to have the same high quality 32 degree API oil seen in SNE-1; while gas-oil and oil-water depths have been confirmed, showing a similar oil-down-to and oil-up-to depth at SNE-2 of 103m gross (SNE-1 is 96m gross).

SNE-2 has also confirmed the correlation of the principal reservoir units between SNE-1 and SNE-2 and the potential for lateral reservoir continuity.

A total of 216m of continuous core (100% recovery) was recovered across the entire SNE field reservoir interval.

The partners said that this new SNE-2 data, plus analysis of new and reprocessed seismic and well data, and further appraisal activity is expected to lead to a future revision of the SNE field resource estimates.

FAR managing director Cath Norman said the results of the appraisal well which confirmed the SNE oil field reservoir quality were important in demonstrating the ability of its reservoirs to flow oil at commercially viable rates.

"This positive result has also helped confirm the overall scale and extent of the resource base and it is expected to support a future revision of the SNE resource estimates," Norman said.

"This also provides further evidence of the substantial potential of FAR's extensive exploration acreage position offshore Senegal."

She said that overall, SNE-2 has provided FAR with significant confidence that SNE has potential to become a "major, world-class oil field development".

Norman added that SNE-2 had been drilled, cored, logged and tested ahead of schedule, and is now being plugged and abandoned.

Once this is done, the Ocean Rig Athena will move 6km south to drill the SNE-3 appraisal well to evaluate the SNE oil field reservoir quality and continuity at a more southerly location.

In a low oil price environment where companies are cutting back on exploration across Africa as the glut is expected to last well into this year, Senegal represents one of the few bright spots on the continent.

Two analysts told Reuters that Cairn's production rate at SNE-2 was better than expected and "removed significant uncertainty about the quality of the reservoir", which the UK player estimates could hold more than a billion barrels of oil.

FAR traded as high as 9.2c this morning.