The Norwegian oil giant confirmed news of the discovery, at wildcat well 15/6-9S at the Ermintrude prospect, after the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate announced the find earlier this afternoon.

The discovery is located about seven kilometres north of the Sleipner field and about three kilometres east of the Dagny discovery in the central part of the North Sea, the NPD said, adding that a small gas discovery had also been made.

Statoil has a 100 pct stake in the license.

"Ermintrude can give valuable additional resources at the Sleipner area," said Tim Dodson, Statoil"s senior vice president for exploration in Exploration & Production Norway.

"The well is an important part of our exploration programme and can contribute to our ambition of producing 1 mln boepd from the Norwegian continental shelf until 2015."

PIN/Forbes.com