Lundin Petroleum (TSE:LUP), a Swedish oil firm, climbed in morning trades after saying it has made a big oil and gas discovery in the Norwegian Arctic, raising hopes that more oil could be found in the remote region.
Shares were up 3.7 percent to C$16.71 at 1:51 p.m. in Toronto, paring this year's losses to 15 percent.
Lundin Petroleum's find in the Alta prospect contains between 125 and 400 million barrels of oil equivalent, including 85 to 310 million barrels of oil, near Statoil's Snoehvit field and Lundin's own Gohta find, the Stockholm, Sweden-based firm said in a statement today.
If the figures are confirmed, the find would be one of the biggest in Norway in more than a decade, although still far behind the gigantic Johan Sverdrup oil discovery from 2010 and 2011 which contains between 1.8 and 2.9 billion barrels.
The news is also a rare exploration success this year, after Statoil found no oil at all this summer in the Norwegian Arctic, only gas, which is less profitable.
No oilfields have reached production in the Norwegian Arctic despite several promising discoveries. The much-delayed Goliat field, operated by Italy’s Eni, is scheduled to start production next year and looks like costing twice its original budget.
Statoil’s Johan Castberg discovery is the biggest so far with between 400 million and 600 million barrels of oil thought to be in the find, which lies about 100 kilometers north of its Snohvit gasfield – the only find in the Barents Sea currently in production.
"This discovery is another positive step in relation to proving up sufficient resources in the Loppa High area of the Barents Sea to enable the development of oil production infrastructure," Lundin's chief executive officer Ashley Heppenstall said in the statement.
Lundin Norway holds a 40 percent interest in the license which it shares with Idemitsu Petroleum from Japan (30 percent) and the German company RWE Dea (30 percent).
Lundin Petroleum said it would drill three or four additional wells next year to find out if there is more oil and gas in the prospect
Reported by Proactive Investors 13 hours ago.
Shares were up 3.7 percent to C$16.71 at 1:51 p.m. in Toronto, paring this year's losses to 15 percent.
Lundin Petroleum's find in the Alta prospect contains between 125 and 400 million barrels of oil equivalent, including 85 to 310 million barrels of oil, near Statoil's Snoehvit field and Lundin's own Gohta find, the Stockholm, Sweden-based firm said in a statement today.
If the figures are confirmed, the find would be one of the biggest in Norway in more than a decade, although still far behind the gigantic Johan Sverdrup oil discovery from 2010 and 2011 which contains between 1.8 and 2.9 billion barrels.
The news is also a rare exploration success this year, after Statoil found no oil at all this summer in the Norwegian Arctic, only gas, which is less profitable.
No oilfields have reached production in the Norwegian Arctic despite several promising discoveries. The much-delayed Goliat field, operated by Italy’s Eni, is scheduled to start production next year and looks like costing twice its original budget.
Statoil’s Johan Castberg discovery is the biggest so far with between 400 million and 600 million barrels of oil thought to be in the find, which lies about 100 kilometers north of its Snohvit gasfield – the only find in the Barents Sea currently in production.
"This discovery is another positive step in relation to proving up sufficient resources in the Loppa High area of the Barents Sea to enable the development of oil production infrastructure," Lundin's chief executive officer Ashley Heppenstall said in the statement.
Lundin Norway holds a 40 percent interest in the license which it shares with Idemitsu Petroleum from Japan (30 percent) and the German company RWE Dea (30 percent).
Lundin Petroleum said it would drill three or four additional wells next year to find out if there is more oil and gas in the prospect
Reported by Proactive Investors 13 hours ago.