Norwegian oil company Aker BP has hit oil and gas at it its Froskelar Main exploration well in the North Sea offshore Norway.
The company on Monday said that preliminary analysis indicates a gross discovery size of 45-153 million barrels oil equivalents.
The Froskelår Main well, formally named exploration well 24/9-14, is located in the Alvheim area and follows the Frosk discovery from last year.
The major part of the discovery is in license 869 on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, while a part may straddle the UK-Norwegian border in the North Sea. The well is being drilled using the Scarabeo 8 semi-submersible drilling rig owned by Saipem.
“The drilling operation will continue, and a comprehensive data collection program will be performed to determine the size and quality of the discovery. More information will be provided when this work has been completed,” Aker BP said.
Aker BP is the operator and holds 60 percent interest in license 869. The partners are Lundin Norway (20 percent) and Vår Energi (20 percent).
In a recent capital markets day presentation, AKER BP said it planned a high-potential 2019 exploration program with 15 prospects to be drilled, targeting net unrisked prospective resources of 500 million barrels of oil equivalents (mmboe). The company has set aside $500 million for exploration in 2019, which is an increase compared to $359 million in 2018.