Eni announces oil and gas discovery in North Sea

By Muhsin Baris Tiryakioglu

ANKARA (AA) - Italian energy giant ENI through its subsidiary Var Energi AS announced a North Sea oil and gas discovery on Tuesday in production license 869.

Var Energi, jointly owned by Eni with a 69.6 percent share and by HitecVision with a 30.4 percent interest, found oil and gas by drilling exploration well 24/9-14S and horizontal appraisal well 24/9-14A in the Froskelar Main prospect, according to the company's press release.

The wells, located about 4 kilometers northwest of the Boyla Field and 225 kilometers west of Norway's Stavanger city in water depth of 120 meters, were drilled with the semi-submersible drilling rig Scarabeo 8.

Var Energi AS holds a 20 percent interest in the license, while operator Aker BP ASA holds a majority stake of 60 percent while Lundin Norway AS holds a 20 percent share.

"Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery between 63 and 132 thousand barrels of recoverable oil equivalent. A part of the discovery could straddle over to the U.K. side. The discovery could be linked to nearby existing infrastructure in the Alvheim area," the press release said.

Var Energi has ownership of more than 100 licenses and operates in oil and gas production over the whole Norwegian Continental Shelf; the Goliat field in the Barents Sea, the Marulk field in the Norwegian Sea and the Balder, Jotun and Ringhorne fields in the North Sea.