AlHijjah 28, 1435, Oct 22, 2014, SPA -- Shell announced Wednesday it made a substantial discovery of natural gas in the deep waters off the coast of the West African nation of Gabon, UPI reported. The company said it ran into a 656-net foot column of natural gas in its Leapord-1 frontier exploration well off the Gabonese coast. The well was drilled in water more than a mile deep into a basin trapped beneath a deep layer of submarine salt. "Shell and partners [at China National Offshore Oil Corp.] are planning to undertake an appraisal program to further determine the resource volumes," the company said in a statement. Shell said it's been exploring off the Gabonese coast for more than 50 years.