Oil shows and sandstones encountered while drilling the targeted Upper Cretaceous section at its Sabu-1 exploratory well offshore Guinea “are particularly encouraging in the development of the turbidite fan plays further down dip on the concession,” said Hyperdynamics Corp., Houston.

The well went to a total depth of 11,844 ft in 2,329 ft of water 90 miles southwest of Conakry.

“Petrophysical analysis of electric logs indicates the presence of hydrocarbons in noncommercial concentrations in multiple layers of sandstones distributed throughout a 1,300-ft interval of Santonian to Turonian age sediments,” the company said.

The indicated oil saturation appears to be residual, suggesting that larger volumes of oil formerly were present in the reservoirs but later leaked out or that the rocks lay on a hydrocarbon migration pathway.

Hyperdynamics said the results “provide evidence that hydrocarbon generation has taken place in the basin and enhances the prospectivity of our 9,650-square-mile concession, one of the largest in West Africa.”

Hyperdynamics, concession operator with 77% interest, will incorporate the well results with interpreted data from 4,000 sq km of 3D seismic now being processed, in order to plan the subsequent drilling program in consultation with Dana Petroleum PLC, which has 23%, and the government.