Calgary-based Talisman’s Norwegian business has struck large volumes of oil near the Varg field in the North Sea, where an appraisal of the Grevling (badger) prospect has been underway in shallow water.

Usually conservative estimates by Norwegian regulators put the find at up to 132 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalents. The nearby Varg field produces oil, but Talisman confirmed for Scandoil.com today that the Grevling field “represents a whole new area of oppportunity”

The play is known for a number of potentially significant finds, and the discovery — “probably commercial”, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate — could lead to more.

The NPD said Talisman (40 percent) and partners Det Norske Oljeselskap (30 percent) and state entity Petoro (30 percent) are already talking new development or a tieback to the Varg floating production storage and offloading vessel, some 16 kilometres to the south.

Talisman has been credited by Norwegian regulators with reviving what had been thought a “dead area”. But the era of large finds, especially of oil, had been thought over in Norway. Large finds, called elephants, are seen as "extinct", although lesser "hippos" are still believed to lurk.

The Maersk Guardian jack-up drilled well 15/12-21 A into 3,220 metres of seabed rock.

Tags: Noreco, Talisman