AIM-listed Bowleven has halted drilling and sealed its Sapele-1 wildcat offshore Cameroon after it encountered a high-pressure gas reservoir in the Cretaceous.

The West Africa-focused explorer drilled the well in the Douala basin to a total depth of 4733 metres after it identified hydrocarbon targets beneath the original planned depth of 4450 metres.

Bowleven halted drilling “due to technical limitations” after encountering “a rapid influx of very high-pressure gas”, the company said in a release.

“Consequently, logging of the interval was not possible and the bottom-hole section is being abandoned in advance of planned appraisal drilling” on the Etinde permit., Bowleven said.

The company has contracted an additional jack-up rig, the Vantage Sapphire Driller, which it expects to be mobilised from Gabon later this month.

The contract contains a programme of three firm wells plus one contingent well with a dayrate of $120,000. a programme of three firm wells plus one contingent well with a dayrate of $120,000.