The company has said that the resources in the find, which lies 4km west of Sleipner B, are currently estimated at 37 million to 63 million recoverable barrels of oil equivalent.

Located in 108m of water, the well was drilled from the West Epsilon rig to a vertical depth of 3,760m beneath sea level.

Tom Dreyer, Statoil's head of infrastructure-led exploration in the North Sea, said: "This discovery strengthens our prospects for finding more resources in the immediate vicinity of Sleipner West."

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.