Cairn Energy PLC (LON:CNE) announced an oil discovery in the 9/14a-17B well, in the UK North Sea, as the side-track found oil in the Agar-Plantain prospect.
Preliminary analysis suggests the discovery has between 15mln and 50mln barrels of recoverable resources.
The project is located close to existing infrastructure and Cairn highlighted that there will now be further evaluation of development options to establish commerciality.
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At the same time, Cairn also announced an agreement to farm-out a 40% in the Chimera prospect in the North Sea – the exploration area is seen to have the potential for 154mln barrels of possible resources.
Elsewhere, in Norwegian waters, the company is expecting its next well will be testing the Presto prospect with the operator Equinor due to spud the well in December 2018. It is a 160mln barrel target which, if successful, opens up follow-on potential.
Cairn shares rose 10p or 5.4% trading at 197.3p each.