Statoil re-evaluates oil discovery

STAVANGER, Norway, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Norway's state-controlled oil company Statoil said Monday that an offshore oil discovery announced 10 days ago held more oil than previously thought.

The Norway Post reported that the total combined yields in the Aldous and Avaldsnes offshore oil fields is now thought to contain 500 million to 1.2 billion barrels of oil that can be recovered.

If the new estimates are accurate, the find would be one of the top 10 largest fields found on the Norwegian continental shelf, the newspaper said.

Statoil can now boast of three significant discoveries in 2011, a 250 million-barrel field discovered in the Barents Sea and a potential 300 million-barrel field found offshore Brazil.