While this year's pair of pre-salt discoveries for Repsol and Petronas have added a shine to Gabon's deep water image, the lustre has been tarnished as analysis has now revealed both to be non-commercial. Gabon's dreams of becoming a deepwater pre-salt upstream hot-spot initially rose in March when Petronas made the Boudji discovery on the Likuale block off the south of the country. The well was in a water depth of 9,185ft (2,800m) with a total depth of 17,880ft (5,450m). It encountered a 295ft (90m) oil and gas column in "high quality hydrocarbon-bearing pre-salt sands."
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