Rockhopper Exploration's Sea Lion prospect has reached a depth of 2,744 meters. The 14/10-2 well was drilled by Diamond Offshore's Ocean Guardian. Initial indications from the data collected suggest that this well is an oil discovery, which would be the first in the North Falkland Basin.

The Company has run a suite of wireline logs and logging data collected thus far indicate that the well has encountered a 150 meter gross interval of sand and shales. The data show that the well has 53 meters of net pay distributed in multiple pay zones, the thickest of which has a net pay of 25 meters. These pay zones have an average porosity of 19%.

Rockhopper now intends to collect additional logging information prior to making a decision whether to plug and abandon the well, or to suspend the well for future testing. The Company is also considering whether to drill an appraisal well on Sea Lion later during the current drilling campaign. Further information will be distributed in due course.

It remains the intention of the Company to drill the Ernest prospect in the fourth slot of the overall Falklands Drilling program.

Samuel Moody, Managing Director, commented,"We are extremely excited by the results of this well. While we are presently acquiring additional data, current indications are that we have made the first oil discovery in the North Falkland Basin. We will now focus on analyzing in more detail the data gathered from the well, in addition to continuing preparations for the drilling of our Ernest prospect later in the year."

Tags: Rockhopper Exploration plc