KASSEL, Germany, April 16 (UPI) -- As much as 160 million barrels of recoverable crude oil was discovered in the North Sea off the coast of Norway, reports German energy company Wintershall.
Wintershall announced an oil discovery at the Skarfjell prospect in the northeastern North Sea. The company estimates the discovery has 60 million-160 million barrels of recoverable oil.
"Skarfjell can serve as a focus point for other discoveries in the area and will further strengthen our position in a future development consortium," Bernd Schrimpf, general manager of Wintershall Norge AS, said in a statement.
The company said it aims to increase oil production on the Norwegian and British continental shelf from 4,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to 50,000 boe by 2015.
All of Norway's estimated 5.6 billion barrels of proven oil reserves are on its continental shelf. It has the largest oil reserves in Western Europe, the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said.
"Commercial viability as well as potential further upside will need to be confirmed through appraisal drilling," said Wintershall.
