The company was about to perforate a 104-feet section of formation and carry out a short clean-up to test initial flow rates, a company official told Upstream.

Particularly good news for ­Perenco appears to be that the ­targeted Rotliegendes Leman ­reservoir was at its original pressure.

The official said that this was probably due to a major fault running east-west to the north of the targeted structure and between the main Leman producing area.

“To