Oil and gas explorer Borders and Southern said it made a significant discovery of gas condensate off the coast of the Falkland Islands.
However, the find did not please markets and investors dumped the shares, pushing them down almost 30% in morning trading on Monday.
Analysts said this was because it was a 'technical discovery' and it could be a long time before the find was commercialised.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
The firm said that the main reservoir interval at Darwin East was found to be 84.5m thick with net pay of 67.8m.
Fluid samples from the reservoir have been recovered and will be brought back to the UK for analysis, the firm said.
Once the lab analysis was complete and the results integrated with other data collected from the well, the company said it would be able to comment on the liquid content of the reservoir.
"It is too early to give an accurate resource estimate, but this large simple structure, with a seismic amplitude anomaly measuring 26 square kilometres, is likely to contain significant volumes," the Borders said in a statement.
-
Ofgem proposes new energy tariffs with low or no standing changesStanding charges have invited public backlash as households battle high energy bills
-
Google shares bounce on Gemini 2.0 launchGoogle has launched the latest version of its Gemini AI platform, and markets have responded positively. Is it time to buy Google shares?
