STAVANGER, Norway, April 13 (UPI) -- Norwegian energy company Statoil said Monday it made a gas discovery in the Norwegian Sea in an area near a find made less than a month ago.

The company said it made a discovery in the Roald Rygg prospect in the Aasta Hansteen area of the Norwegian Sea. The company estimates the volume of the discovery to be between 12 million and 44 million barrels of oil equivalent.


The deepwater platform tied to Aasta Hansteen will be among the largest in the world once full field production begins in 2017. The reserve area is "one of the main projects" in Statoil's portfolio, the company said.

Norway is among the top natural gas exporters to the European market. Natural gas discoveries last year increased by more than 240 million cubic feet.

The company in March reported a natural gas discovery in a pioneer well near the Aasta Hansteen field, which the government estimated holds between 175 billion and 300 billion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.

A process to lay the 300-mile long Polarled pipeline from the Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea across the Arctic Circle to a gas processing plant in the northwest of the country began last month.

Statoil said the project marks a regional milestone on several fronts. It's the first large-diameter pipeline of its kind to be placed in waters of up to 4,150 feet deep and is the first pipeline to take gas across the Arctic Circle.