A fresh discovery by Statoil close to an existing find in frontier waters off the coast of eastern Canada has raised the prospect of a new harsh environment floating production hub.

The Norwegian operator hit light, high-quality oil on its Harpoon prospect in the Flemish Pass Basin, just 10 km southeast of its 100-200 MMbbl Mizzen oil discovery. The lat- est well was drilled in Exploration Licence 1112 using the West Aquarius ultra-deepwater semisub rig in approximately 1,100 m (3,608 ft) of water.

DI understands that scoping stud- ies are already underway internally at Statoil, with various potential semisubmersible and FPSO floater solutions on the drawing board as likely development solutions for the deep waters and harsh sea states encountered in the Flemish Pass area.

In order for a standalone development to proceed, DI hears that Statoil wants to firm up recoverable reserves of at least 250-300 MMbbl in order to achieve the desired economic threshold.

Although it is too early to estimate Harpoon’s resource potential, says the operator, the results are “very encouraging” for the area, especially the nearby Bay du Nord well the company plans to drill later this year, according to Erik Finnstrom, senior vice president for Exploration North America at Statoil. Bay du Nord is just southwest of the Harpoon and Mizzen finds, and is understood to be the largest geological structure in the area.

“We anticipate there will be further appraisal drilling to mature this discovery in the future,” Finnstrom noted regarding Harpoon, adding that Statoil will continue to strategically build the Flemish Pass Basin area and test high-impact oil prospects as one of the company’s core exploration regions.

Statoil operates Harpoon with a 65% interest, with its partner being Husky Energy. Harpoon is located approximately 500 km northeast of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Norwegian operator is now drilling the Federation prospect in the Jeanne d’Arc Basin offshore eastern Canada as part of a three-well exploration program offshore Newfoundland this year.

Bay du Nord is one of several Statoil wells to watch in 2013, and if successful could also potentially be co-developed with the Mizzen and Harpoon discoveries.