Cobalt International Surging 50% on Drill Results

Shares of Cobalt International

are seeing much strength during Friday's trading session after the company announced better than expected drill results. Today, Cobalt provided additional data confirming the significance of its Cameia Pre-salt oil discovery in Block 21 offshore Angola. The Cameia-1 Well was drilled in 5,518 feet (1,682 meters) of water to a total depth of 16,030 feet (4,886 meters), at which point an extensive wire line evaluation program was conducted. The results of this wire line evaluation program confirmed the presence of a 1,180 foot (360 meter) gross continuous oil column with over a 75% net to gross pay estimate. No gas/oil nor oil/water contact was evident on the wire line logs. An extended Drill Stem Test (

) has now been performed on Cameia-1 to provide additional information. The DST flowed at an un-stimulated sustained rate of 5,010 barrels per day of 44-degree API gravity oil and 14.3 million cubic feet per day of associated gas (approximately 7,400 BOEPD) with limited drawdown. The flow rate, which was restricted by surface equipment, facility and safety precautions, confirmed the presence of a very thick, continuous, high quality reservoir saturated with light oil. Currently, shares of Cobalt International are trading 50% higher at $35.94.