Norway's Statoil announces large oil discovery in North Sea

OSLO, Norway -- Norway's Statoil says it has discovered a high quality oil reserve in the North Sea off the coast of Stavanger.

The state-controlled oil company says the find in the Geitungen field is estimated at between 140 and 270 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalents.

It was found near the Johan Sverdrup field, where last year Statoil said it found 500 million to 1.2 billion barrels of oil, one of the largest discoveries on the Norwegian continental shelf.

Statoil said Monday the discovery will be included in "the ongoing development work for the Johan Sverdrup field."

Statoil is the production operator with an ownership share of 40 per cent. License partners include Petoro AS with 30 per cent, Det norske oljeselskap ASA with 20 per cent and Lundin Norway AS with 10 per cent.