Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) jumped 5% to 1545p during early trading after the company said that the Ngamia-1 exploration well onshore Kenya in Block 10BB has now been drilled to an intermediate depth of 1,515 metres and the total net oil pay encountered so far has increased to in excess of 100 metres across multiple reservoir zones.

Following the initial announcement on 26 March 2012, that Ngamia-1 had encountered in excess of 20 metres of net oil pay, the well has now been deepened from 1,041 metres to 1,515 metres. A sidetrack was required in this section and following completion of logging and sampling in difficult hole conditions, a total pay count greater than 100 metres has now been discovered over a gross oil bearing interval of 650 metres.

Oil samples with an API greater than 30 degrees have been recovered to surface from the newly drilled section with similar properties to the light waxy crude encountered in the upper reservoir zone.

The Ngamia structure is the first prospect to be tested as part of a multi-well drilling campaign in Kenya and Ethiopia. Many leads and prospects similar to Ngamia have been identified and following this discovery the outlook for further success has significantly improved.

Tullow has proposed to the Government an increase in 2D seismic acquisition and the sourcing of an additional rig to increase drilling activities