Shares in Faroe Petroleum soared by more than 23% to 159p yesterday after it announced a discovery in the Norwegian Sea.
The Aberdeen company has a 30% stake in the Maria prospect operated by Wintershall Norge.
Maria consists of south and north segments and the well was drilled in the south by the Songa Delta rig.
Faroe said that preliminary analysis had indicated 250-520million barrels of oil equivalent, with the recoverable volume estimated at between 75million and 155million barrels.
The firm said that preliminary log analysis had also indicated a thicker-than-expected gross oil column of 210 feet in a better-than-expected reservoir.
Graham Stewart, Faroe’s chief executive, said: “We are very pleased to announce a discovery on the Maria prospect, which is our second successful well on the Halten Terrace in the Norwegian Sea this year, following the announcement of the Fogelberg discovery in April.
“Maria is clearly material to Faroe, with net recoverable volumes to Faroe estimated to be between 22million and 46million barrels of oil equivalent, and alongside our Maria partners we look forward to the further evaluation of this discovery.
“The next three 2010 exploration wells in our programme after Maria will be drilled in the deepwater Atlantic Margin, and will all be targeting substantial oil prospects. These are the Anne Marie well off the Faroe Islands, which is due to spud soon, and North Uist/Cardhu and Lagavulin in the UK, operated by Eni, BP and Chevron respectively.”
The Maria acreage was awarded under the Norwegian government licensing round at the end of 2008.
Other stakeholders are: Wintershall 25%, Concedo 10%, Spring Energy Norway 15% and Centrica Resources (Norge) 20%.
Canaccord Genuity analyst Lindsay Wheeler said: “This is clearly a very positive well result.”
Meanwhile, analyst Werner Riding, at Ambrian, said: “This is clearly another significant hydrocarbon discovery for Faroe and, with a 30% equity interest in the licence, will be significant beneficiaries from the value uplift that will come from this.”
Dana Petroleum, of Aberdeen, is a 27.5% shareholder in Faroe.
Its shares gained 2% at £15.05.
Dana has been in talks with Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) on a possible takeover of Dana that could potentially be worth more than £1.3billion.
Yesterday’s news from Faroe is expected to put pressure on KNOC to increase any potential bid.