Scandinavian oil giant Statoil has said its Aldous Major South appraisal well in the Norwegian North Sea has found oil.
Well 16/2-10 had an oil column of 164-180ft in Jurassic sandstone.
Statoil has previously estimated the Aldous structure could contain between 400 and 800 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.
In August the firm announced the Aldous field was part of the largest oil discovery in the Norwegian North Sea since the 1980s because it had been found to be linked to the Avaldsnes field, 87 miles west of Stavanger.
The combined field could contain between 500million and 1.2billion recoverable barrels of oil equivalent (boe), Statoil said at the time, making it one of the 10 largest finds on the Norwegian continental shelf.
The partly state-owned firm said it would present updated volume estimates when the well data on 16/2-10 have been fully analysed.
The latest well was 2.6 miles north of discovery well 16-2/8 in the Aldous Major South structure on the Utsira Height in the North Sea.
It was drilled by the Transocean Leader drilling rig with partners Petoro, Det norske oljeselskap and Lundin Norway on the Aldous Major South structure in licence PL 265 in the Norwegian North Sea.
It was the sixth exploration well in the PL 265 licence, where Statoil is operator and 40% owner, with partners Petoro (30%), Det norske oljeselskap (20%) and Lundin (10%).