Statoil's ray of North Sea sunshine

The Verbier discovery is undoubtedly a welcome boost for the UK oil industry, but plenty more like it will be needed to arrest the region’s decline

Statoil's discovery of at least 25m recoverable barrels of oil close to the Scottish coast is a fillip for the UK's North Sea industry and the company says it now has confidence to push ahead with its exploration campaign. Preliminary results suggesting the discovery in the Verbier sidetrack well in the outer Moray Firth could yield anywhere from 25-130m barrels of oil will need to be firmed up with more drilling, before Statoil—which owns a 70% stake in the project alongside its partners Jersey Oil (18%) and CIECO (12%)—can take any decisions on its commerciality. Statoil said the decision vindicated its decision to drill a sidetrack well after the main Verbier well had encountered a water-