STAVANGER, Norway, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Norwegian energy company Statoil announced it made an oil discovery while drilling off the eastern coast of Canada.
Statoil said it discovered oil in the Flemish Pass Basin off the coast of Newfoundland. The discovery was made in the Bay du Nord prospect and is the second such discovery so far this year.
"The success of Bay du Nord is the result of an ambitious and targeted drilling campaign in the Flemish Pass Basin," Statoil exploration executive Vice President Tim Dodson said in a statement Tuesday. "This discovery is very encouraging."
The Bay du Nord prospect is about 12 miles south of the company's Mizzen discovery. That discovery, which Statoil announced last year, is estimated to hold at least 100 million barrels of oil.
"We are now planning to return to the area for further appraisal drilling in the future," Dodson said.
Newfoundland Natural Resources Minister Tom Marshall told The Financial Post in a mid-August interview more foreign interest was needed offshore.
Crude oil production off Newfoundland declined from 370,000 barrels per day in 2007 to less than 200,000 bpd last year because of maintenance issues.
