Statoil Discovery May be One of Largest This Year

Statoil (NYSE:STO) recently struck oil in the North Sea that it says may be one of the largest in the world this year.

The oil explorer said the Aldous and Avaldsnes discoveries on the Utsira High in the North Sea may represent an oil structure of between 500 million and 1.2 billion barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.

If the upper part of the interval strikes pay dirt, the discovery will be one of the ten largest oil finds ever on the Norwegian continent shelf, said the company, which has a 40% licensing stake.

The other stakeholders in the discovery are Petoro with 30%, Det norske oljeselskap with 20% and Lindin with 10%.

Aldous/Avaldsnes is a giant oil discovery, and according to our estimates the combined discovery may make the top 10 list of NCS oil discoveries, said Statoil vice president of exploration Tim Dodson. Norway has not seen a similar oil discovery since the mid-eighties.

The latest find marks the third high-impact discovery for the company in 2011 following the 250 million barrel Skrugard oil discovery in April and then 150 to 300 million barrel Peregrino South oil field offshore Brazil.