-as Tullow strikes oil in French GuianaLondon (Reuters) – London-based explorer Tullow Oil said it had struck oil offshore French Guiana, raising the prospect of the opening of a major offshore oil producing province in South America and boosting its shares.The find will make the prospects of off-shore drilling in neighbouring Suriname and Guyana more likely, the Reuters report said yesterday.The company,NFL Jerseys Cheap, and others, have made big discoveries offshore Ghana, namely the multi-billion barrel Jubilee field, and an oil strike in Sierra Leone that suggests the finds extend all along the coast.Tullow’s Zaedyus exploration well has discovered oil offshore French Guiana.Tullow’s Zaedyus well in French Guiana, drilled in more than 2,000 metres of water and at a cost of some $200 million, was tapping rock formations laid before Africa and South America separated millions of years ago.The company, and partners Royal Dutch Shell Plc with 45 percent and France’s Total with 25 percent, believed the oil-rich West African geology would be replicated in South America.“Our Atlantic twin basin concept has proven to be valid,Wholesale NBA Jerseys,” Tullow’s exploration director Angus McCoss said on an investor call.Tullow’s geological theory is not without precedent. In the past decade, fields with tens of billions of barrels of oil have been found offshore Brazil in reservoirs that were formed when the two continents were attached.The high-risk nature of the venture was reflected in the terms the companies received from the government, McCoss said, suggesting any oil produced will yield good margins.Tullow shares traded up 11.3 percent at 1,366 pence at 1035 GMT,Cheap Jerseys From China, the biggest gainer on the FTSE 100 index .BoA Merrill Lynch raised its net asset value of the company by 55 pence per share. “We could see the resources at Zaedyus growing over time,Wholesale NBA Jerseys China,” it said in a research note.Tullow operates the Guyana Maritime licence and holds a 27.5 percent stake. Northpet — a company owned by Northern Petroleum and Wessex Exploration — has a 2.5 percent holding.Northern Petroleum shares traded up 29.2 percent while Wessex soared 36.3 percent.Tullow, Europe’s largest listed explorer by market capitalisation, plans to drill wells in neighbouring Guyana and Suriname next,Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys, with the French Guiana find making success there look more likely.“We are pleased with the preliminary results of this first deepwater well offshore French Guiana,Wholesale NFL Jerseys China,” said Dave Lawrence, executive vice-president of exploration and commercial at Shell.“We are early in the evaluation, but the initial results are encouraging for this new play.”The well was drilled to a depth of 5,711 metres and drilling will continue beyond 6,000 metres.