Ophir shares leap on record gas find

Shares in the African energy firm Ophir leapt almost 15 per cent on Monday after it announced a record gas discovery off the coast of Tanzania.

The firm said the 4.5tr cubic feet (TCF) of gas discovery at its Jodari-1 well, exceeded pre-drill estimates by 55%.

The find marks the fourth consecutive gas discovery in the area for the joint venture between Ophir and BG Group - and the largest by Ophir in its history.

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"These excellent Jodari-1 results are important for the future development of Tanzanian offshore industry and for the Ophir-BG partnership," said Ophir's Chief Executive, Nick Cooper.

"This is a very strong start to our five well 2012 Tanzania drilling campaign and the Metro-1 drillship will now move to drill Mzia-1, which is targeting mean recoverable resources of 4.6 TCF," he said.

Jodari-1 was the fourth well to be drilled by the Ophir-BG joint venture in their jointly held acreage and was the first well to be operated by BG.

Ophir holds 40% of Blocks 1, 3 and 4 where the drilling has taken place; BG owns 60% of the operation.