StatoilHydro strikes oil, gas in North Sea

OSLO (AP) — State-controlled oil company StatoilHydro ASA on Monday announced an oil and natural gas discovery at an exploration well drilled in the North Sea near the existing Oseberg South field.

The Stavanger-based company said the find is believed to have recoverable reserves of 50-80 million barrels of oil equivalents, which measure energy content rather than volume of oil and gas.

"The discovery is a good deal larger than we usually find in wells close to existing fields," said Tom Dreyer, project leader for StatoilHydro. "Given that it lies close to an existing field and can quickly be brought on stream, this is a very interesting volume."

The Norwegian government has been urging oil companies to look for new finds near existing production facilities because they can be brought on line relatively quickly to offset gradually declining production.

"We've had great success with exploration close to producing fields over the past year," said Tove Stuhr Sjoeblom, head of the company's exploration for the Norwegian continental shelf. "Discoveries like this are important for maximizing the recovery of resources .... because they help to extend the production life of installations," she said.