May 8 (UPI) -- New drilling is scheduled over the next two months at a prospect in the Barents Sea targeted by Lundin Petroleum, Norway's government said Monday.
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said it gave Lundin the approval to drill an exploration well in a Barents Sea prospect dubbed Alta.
"Drilling is scheduled to begin in May 2017 and will last 65 days," the directorate said in a statement of consent. "Possible well testing will be in addition."
Lundin in February made a discovery at a wildcat well, one drilling in an area not previously known to carry hydrocarbons, about 20 miles away from the producing Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea. The NPD estimated the size of the discovery at between 34.5 million and 100 million barrels of oil equivalents.
Lundin in its outline for the first quarter said total production was 82.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, at the upper end of its guidance. The company gained leverage in Norwegian waters last year when regional major Statoil spent $538 million to acquire an 11.9 percent stake in the company.
Apart from Russia, Norway is the lead oil and natural gas supplier to the European market, designating nearly all of its offshore production for exports. Recent data assessments of the eastern and northern parts of the Barents Sea, areas previously a source of dispute with Russia, led to upward revisions of the reserve estimate by up to 65 percent.
Preliminary expectations from Lundin put the size of the Alta discovery at between 125 million and 400 million barrels of oil equivalent.
