Total: Lear Discovery Could Lead to Gas Hub

French major Total has said that a recent discovery on the Norwegian Continental Shelf could lead to the development of a gas hub in the area.

The King Lear prospect, which was announced as a "high impact" discovery by operator Statoil on Monday, is estimated to hold between 70 and 200 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe). This discovery, as well as another gas prospect, could bring about the creation of an important gas zone.

"King Lear lies adjacent to the Ekofisk License (Total 39.9 per cent) and is also close to two blocks awarded to Total in the last APA Licensing round earlier this year, PL618 (Total 60 per cent) and PL619 (Total 50 per cent)," Total's Senior VP of Exploration & Production for Northern Europe, Patrice de Viviès said. 

"This success confirms the deep gas/condensate prospectivity of the whole area, and we are working to drill a number of additional exploration wells on similar prospects in the next few years.  Together with the existing Tommeliten discovery (Total 20.23 per cent), this could lead to a new gas processing hub in the area, onstream before the end of this decade."

The King Lear prospect, which was drilled in a water depth of 67 metres to a vertical depth of 5,344 metres below sea level, is operated by Statoil, which holds a 77.78 per cent stake. Total holds the remaining 22.2 per cent stake.