LONDON (ShareCast) - Oil and gas exploration group Tullow Oil said Tuesday that results from the Tatai-1 exploration well in Uganda have been positive.

The well, situated in the Butiaba region of Uganda Block 2, has encountered five metres of net gas pay and at least eight metres of net oil pay.

Downhole pressure testing and sampling has confirmed the presence of moveable 30 degrees API (American Petroleum Institute) oil and a potential oil column of up to 80 metres in sands above the basement play.

Pressure sampling of underlying oil sands was inconclusive, so the well is being sidetracked and the oil bearing zones cored to collect further reservoir and fluid information to see whether the well offers more than the eight metres net oil pay.

“The discovery of oil at Taitai has proved the existence of a working petroleum system over 70 kilometres from the previous wells drilled in the Kaiso-Tonya region and further reinforces the potential of Lake Albert Rift Basin as a major emerging petroleum province,” said Tullow’s chief executive, Aidan Tullow.

• News Channel