EnCore Oil said yesterday that the Burgman find in the central North Sea could contain more than 100million barrels of oil.
The firm said a sidetrack well had encountered hydrocarbons in the targeted Lower Tay sandstone interval.
EnCore said initial estimates suggested likely oil in place of 80-120million barrels. The drilling programme on block 28/9 has now been completed.
The Galaxy II rig drilled three successful wells during this campaign, resulting in two “substantial” discoveries at Varadero and Burgman, and an appraisal of Catcher North.
EnCore chief executive Alan Booth said of the Burgman sidetrack: “This is an excellent result and supports the partnership’s geophysical model for the identification of Tay sands over the Burgman structure.
“The sand thickness and quality was very much at the upper end of our pre-sidetrack expectations.
“The confirmation of another important discovery in the licence is a fitting end to this phase of drilling. EnCore is now looking forward to the results of drilling at Cladhan, which we hope will be within the next 10 days or so.”
The partners in the block are operator EnCore (15%), Premier Oil (35%), Wintershall (UK North Sea) (20%), Nautical Petroleum (15%) and Agora Oil and Gas (15%).
EnCore has a 16.6% stake in the Cladhan find in the northern North Sea.
The Press and Journal reported last October that it could contain more than 300million barrels of oil.
Aberdeen-based international oilfield service company Expro yesterday announced the award of a UK well test and subsea services contract with E.on Ruhrgas.
The three-year deal, worth up to £2million, involves work on the Huntington project, E.on’s first central North Sea field. All its previous work has been in the southern North Sea.