Big oil discovery in North Sea

The Swedish and Norwegian-owned Lundin oil and gas company has announced a giant oil discovery in the Norwegian section of the North Sea. Test drillings indicate a find of between 800 million and nearly two billion barrels of oil, according to Radio Sweden. The company's shares have soared by more than 30 percent on the Stockholm stock market upon the news. Lundin operates the North Sea prospect, which is called Avaldsnes. "Avaldsnes/Aldous, which is already a world class discovery has, following this year's appraisal program, become significantly larger," chief executive Ashley Heppenstall said in the statement published by Bloomberg. "Avaldsnes and Aldous will be developed together and we are already working closely with our partners and Statoil ASA (STL) as operator of PL265 to ensure that the project proceeds without delay."