Lundin oil find in Barents Sea significant, company boss says

At least 85 million barrels of oil are thought to be in the Alta prospect following a successful Barents Sea drilling campaign, Lundin Petroleum said Tuesday.

Lundin announced the results from a drilling and exploration well in the Alta prospect. The company said a production test yielded 1.7 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and the site could be mixed with between 85 million and 310 million barrels of oil.

Lundin President Ashley Heppenstall said in a statement the Alta discovery was a significant find in the Barents Sea, one which consists of mostly oil.

Drilling in northern waters has raised safety concerns from environmental circles, though Heppenstall said the region was ice free all year and far away from the southern edge of arctic sea ice.

Norway is the European leader in terms of production and key exporter of energy resources to the regional economy.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the nation's energy regulator, said average daily production for September was about 1.47 million barrels of oil per day, 2.5 percent above what NPD had expected and 10 percent higher year-on-year.