Scottish oil explorer Cairn Energy has made a second oil discovery off the coast of Senegal.
The firm, which currently has no producing assets, said yesterday it had found oil at its SNE-1 joint-venture well about 62 miles off the coast of the west African country.
SNE-1 is located near Cairn’s FAN-1 well, where the firm found oil last month.
The new find could hold 150-670million barrels of recoverable resources, Cairn said.
Chief executive Simon Thomson added: “This is a significant oil find for Cairn and Senegal, and based on preliminary estimates is a commercial discovery and opens a new basin on the Atlantic margin.
“On completion of the SNE-1 well, the joint-venture along with the authorities in Senegal will evaluate all of the information to understand how best to take forward these basin opening discoveries with an appraisal drilling programme in 2015.
“Cairn has additional prospects and leads that offer further exploration potential across this large acreage position in West Africa.”
Analysts said the two oil discoveries could provide Cairn with an option to sell parts of its 40% stake to raise cash for 2015 exploration work in north-west Europe and Morocco.
Cairn is the operator and 40% owner of three blocks off the coast of Senegal. Other stakeholders include US oil major ConocoPhillips, which owns 35%.
Edinburgh-based Cairn has been unable to tap its remaining £630million stake in Cairn India, whose backdated taxation practices are currently being investigated by Indian authorities.