Masirah Oil (Masirah) announced the successful reach of the well target depth in the second exploration well in Block 50 Oman to its final depth of less than 9,842 feet (3,000 meters) into the Cambrian formation. Hydrocarbons were discovered in several formations with good oil sample extracted. The well will undergo data acquisition before setting the completion for testing. The well was drilled using the jackup Aban VII (250' ILC).

Hans Lidgren, chairman of Masirah, said, “The discovery of hydrocarbons in 2nd exploration well is a significant step towards the deepening of our knowledge and understanding of the offshore geology in the east of Oman, where no discovery has been made before. The results from this well are vital for the future development of this block. This discovery confirms the high quality and value of the Oman asset. We look forward to a continued fruitful co-operation with the Ministry of Oil and Gas in Oman for many more years to come, and we congratulate our shareholders Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad in Malaysia, responsible for the drilling campaign, Petroci the National Oil Company of Cote D`Ivoire and Rex International Holding Ltd in Singapore, responsible for the use of Rex Virtual Drilling technology, to a successful venture.”

Commenting on Masirah’s press release, Dan Brostrom, executive chairman of Rex International Holding, said, “The oil discovery in the second exploration well is further testament to the accuracy of our proprietary direct hydrocarbon indicator, Rex Virtual Drilling; this time in our very own concession. The recent entry of oil majors such as France’s Total S.A. to Oman’s offshore areas indicates their recognition of the potential of finding crude reserves in the region and gives a vote of confidence to the findings of Rex Virtual Drilling.

“In late January 2014, we have been awarded stakes in five more concessions which we have scanned using Rex Virtual Drilling in Norway. We will continue to actively build our portfolio in different geographies, leveraging on Rex Virtual Drilling’s technological efficacy and its time and cost efficiency,” Brostrom added.

The prowess of Rex Virtual Drilling had previously been confirmed by many blind and live tests with an unprecedented success rate of more than 85 percent. The game-changing technology allows the Company to identify liquids such as oil, condensate gas and water in the ground from analysis of seismic data. This approach is fundamentally different from the common industry practice of looking for geological structures from seismic data analysis and making probability estimates of finding oil.

Based on its ability to directly locate hydrocarbons, Rex Virtual Drilling can achieve its unique success rate of more than 50 percent in exploratory drilling, compared to the global industry average chance of success of 10-15 percent.