StatoilHydro logged its fourth oil discovery of the year, just southwest of the Grane field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. It's estimated to yield as many of 30 million barrels of crude.
The new discovery is viewed as ripe for development, given other oil strikes in the area. It marks "a continuation of the good start to exploration activity in the Norwegian sector in 2008," said StatoilHydro’s Norwegian exploration boss, Tim Dodson.
The well was drilled at a depth of 125 meters. StatoilHydro is its operator and has a 57 percent stake, along with the Norwegian state oil agency Petoro with 30 percent and ExxonMobil with 13 percent.
StatoilHydro struck oil earlier this year in the Fram area of the North Sea, at Gamma and Marulk in the Haltenbanken area.
Gas from 'Afrodite'
Operator ENI Norge, meanwhile, was staying mostly mum on reports that it had discovered a "large" pocket of gas in the Afrodite field of the North Sea, west of the Sognefjord.
Newspaper Finansavisen reported that the gas was discovered after exploratory drilling from the rig Transocean Leader.
ENI Norge officials wouldn't reveal details of the size of the gas discovery, pending analysis of information from the site.
ENI Norge owns 45 percent of the license area, with StatoilHydro owning 40 percent and Idemitsu of Japan 15 percent. The area lies between the oil fields Fram and Kvitebjørn, north of Troll.
With oil prices hitting the USD 100-per-barrel mark again this week, interest is keen within the industry to find new sources. The high oil prices of the past few years have spurred an economic boom in Norway.
