OREANDA-NEWS.  Statoil has made a discovery of light, high-quality oil in the Flemish Pass Basin, offshore Newfoundland.

Oil was encountered while drilling the Harpoon prospect (EL 1112), located approximately 500 kilometres north-east of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

"While it is still too early to determine Harpoon's resource potential at this time, this is very encouraging for the area and especially for the Bay du Nord well planned for later this year," says Erik Finnstrom, senior vice president for Exploration North America in Statoil.
Finnstrom explains that Statoil's exploration strategy to test high-impact oil prospects in the Flemish Pass Basin is on target and that the Harpoon results will contribute to a greater understanding of the area.

"We anticipate there will be further appraisal drilling to mature this discovery in the future," states Finnstrom. "We will continue to build this area as a core exploration region for Statoil."

The Harpoon discovery was drilled by the semi-submersible rig West Aquarius, in approximately 1,100 metres of water.

Harpoon is located about 10 kilometres south-east of Statoil's Mizzen discovery. The Mizzen discovery is estimated to hold between 100-200 million barrels of oil.

As part of its 2013 three-well exploration program offshore Newfoundland, Statoil is currently drilling its Federation prospect, located in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. The company will then return to the Flemish Pass Basin to drill the Bay du Nord prospect, which is located south-west of the Harpoon and Mizzen discoveries.

Statoil is the operator of Harpoon with a 65 percent interest. Husky Energy is a 35 percent partner.