KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's state-owned oil company Petronas on Monday announced a new oil and gas discovery from its Boudji-1 exploration well in Block F14 (Likuale), located in south Gabon.

The energy firm said in a statement, the ultra-deepwater exploration well, drilled in water depths around 2,800 meters, encountered 90 meters of gross high quality hydrocarbon-bearing pre-salt sands.

The discovery was made by its subsidiary PC Gabon Upstream S.A. (PCGUSA) -- the operator for Likuale with Australia's Woodside holding a 30 percent participating interest.

The discovery marks a significant milestone for Petronas as it expands upstream growth in West Africa, demonstrating its frontier exploration and deepwater operational capabilities, said the statement.

"The discovery in Gabon is an encouraging development for Petronas, as we continue to pursue growth activities beyond Malaysia, in line with the strategy to expand our core oil and gas business by growing our resource base," said executive vice president and upstream chief executive officer of Petronas Mohd Anuar Taib.

Aside from boosting Gabon's oil and gas industry, he said, the discovery will also spur further growth activities in the region, and complements the group's achievements towards building a significant deepwater portfolio globally.

Petronas, together with the Ministry of Petroleum and Hydrocarbons in Gabon, will conduct an assessment to further determine the commerciality of the resource volume, according to the statement.

To-date, Petronas' deepwater portfolio includes partnerships in the Gumusut-Kakap, Malikai and Kikeh deepwater fields located offshore Sabah.

Besides, there are two new upcoming deepwater development projects in the portfolio -- the Limbayong field in Sabah and the Kelidang Cluster in Brunei.

It is noted that Petronas is the second largest gross acreage holder in offshore Mexico with a total of nine blocks.

To strengthen its presence in West Africa, Petronas has recently signed a farm-out agreement with Australia's FAR Ltd for a 40 percent interest in the offshore petroleum licenses of Blocks A2 and A5 located offshore Gambia.