(Bloomberg) -- Kosmos Energy Ltd. made an offshore oil discovery in Equatorial Guinea, according to the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons.

The S-5 well was drilled to a depth of 4,400 meters and encountered 39 meters of net oil play in the Santonian reservoir in the offshore Rio Muni Basin, the ministry said in an emailed statement.

Equatorial Guinea is struggling to recover from a slump in drilling activity and oil and gas production. The discovery is the first well in the campaign by Kosmos.

“The discovery is a strong validation of our strategy to replace oil reserves by exploring the highly prospective oil basins like Rio Muni,” the nation’s Minister of Mines, Industry and Energy Gabriel Obiang said in the statement.

Further evaluation work is ongoing to determine the extent of the discovery and determine a schedule of the development phase, the ministry said.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Paul Burkhardt in Johannesburg at pburkhardt@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
James Herron at jherron9@bloomberg.net
Sara Marley

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