Disappointing the City by discovering gas and not oil - as Borders & Southern did recently - is one thing, but finding water instead of oil is something else.
Shares in Afren have dropped nearly 6% - down 8.4p to 134.3p - after the company said its Nunya exploration well off Ghana had "encountered thick and high quality water bearing reservoirs." Chief executive Osman Shahenshah said the result was disappointing but put a brave face on things:
[The well] has provided important data with which to calibrate and further enhance our understanding of this under-explored block in what still remains a very high potential basin.
The company's shares were lifted last week when it announced a significant oil discovery in Kurdistan. Analysts at Fox Davies said:
Afren continues to make excellent progress with wider exploration program, which has already yielded two significant discoveries year to date. Ebok North Fault Block exploration well has been spudded in Nigeria and is drilling ahead towards target. First line support looks to be around the 135p area, so it will be interesting to see how the long term holders react to that level.
