StatoilHydro ASA (NYSE:STO) claims to have discovered more oil off the southwestern coast of Norway, the Norwegian oil company said this Monday. Now the question is, "How deep is this find and how long will it take for them to tap?"

The answer is probably "quite deep" and as to how long it will take to get the oil and natural gas flowing, well, it is probably "as soon as we can find the rigs, drills, pipelines and deepwater specialists" who are already tied up with myriad projects elsewhere.

The discovery, near the Sleipner oil field in the North Sea, is estimated to be 100 million to 125 million barrels, the company said. Total SA (NYSE:TOT) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) also have stakes in the new oil well.

The discovery was made under a gas field located 30 years ago and is part of an effort by StatoilHydro to revisit oil blocks explored in the early phase of oil development at the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

StatoilHydro also announced a deep-water discovery of some 4 billion cubic meters (141 billion cubic feet) of recoverable gas in the Norwegian Sea, 290 kilometers (180 miles) off the northern coast. Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) are partners with StatoilHydro in this finding.

Statoil's 6-month chart shows that this company needs some help when it comes to rejuvenating its stock price and pleasing shareholders.

Here's The Catch

Again the key words are "deep-water discovery" and everything we are hearing is that all the oceanic oil services companies like Transocean (NYSE:RIG), National Oil Varco (NYSE:NOV),Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) and Ensco (NYSE:ESV) are booked, tied up, and looking for more equipment and workers to add to their arsenal.

In order to reel in fish, you need good quality, abundant fishing equipment and competent fishermen. In order to "catch" the big oil and natural gas deposits, you need the state-of-the-art oil technologies that are now overused and under-supplied. You also need more petroleum engineers and blue-collar, trained workers. It's a classic Catch-22 situation and it isn't about to change soon.

Meantime, what the heck is going on with BP (NYSE:BP) Just when I thought BP actually meant "beyond petroleum," this struggling behemoth is trying to get its paws on more oil wherever it can, from Russia to the courtroom. And its stock just hit a 52-week low and is trading at a forward PE of a little north of 5.

Victims of BP's deadly 2005 refinery explosion have settled all but one of the more than 4,000 lawsuits that were filed in state court after the accident, attorneys and a state district judge said last Friday. This puts a huge legal "sword of Damacles" behind them.

Attorneys for blast victims announced that the four lawsuits have been settled in the Texas City explosion that killed 15 people and injured more than 170. Of course the terms of the settlement were confidential and undisclosed.

BP is either the cheapest-priced major oil company stock around or something is rotten in Denmark (I mean London). Maybe now that London has won the "honor" of hosting the 2012 summer Olympics, BP will figure out how to improve its earnings and impress shareholders. You'd think the almost 5% dividend would be enough.

The Big "Fossils" Need to Wake Up

Part of the "catch" is that all the major oil producers are stuck with old, rusting platforms, and rebuilt, anitquated drilling and pumping systems. That's why now is a better time to own the oil service and drilling stocks, as their day rates and rental rates are at all-time highs and working overtime.

All the major oil and gas producers are in a pickle jar over how to deploy more rigs, equipment and production teams to bring more fossil fuels to the marketplace. These giant publicly-traded companies are thinking more like "fossils" and less like "cash cows" and its time for a paradigm shift.

Maybe they should be putting some of their profits into R&D concerning sustainable forms of non-fossil energy fuels or some winning alternative energy projects that involve wind , solar and geothermal .

Heck, they could make a fortune if they'd just invent better, longer-life batteries for the next generation of electric cars. Hasn't big oil learned yet that they need to hedge their bets and diversify their ways of making even greater fortunes?