Max Petroleum have struck oil

An oil industry giant has announced the discovery of oil in one of its latest wells.

Max Petroleum, an exploration and production firm, made the discovery at its SAGW-1 exploration well in its Sagiz West prospect in Kazakhstan.

The well was spud in late August and has reached a depth of 1,406 metres, with 27 metres of net pay breaking down into 21 of oil and six of gas.

Max claimed that the quality of the oil in the well was "very good" and the firm now estimates oil in place in the Sagiz West field could be 66 million barrels with expected recovery factors ranging between 20 per cent and 30 per cent.

"This is an excellent result for the company and our shareholders," said Michael Young, president and chief financial officer at Max.

"We have now drilled eight successful wells since March 2011, with three discoveries, bringing our overall success rate with our shallow exploration programme to 50 per cent since January 2010."

Meanwhile, exploration firm Tullow made a significant recent oil discovery off the coast of French Guiana.