Oil discovery number 10 has now been made in the BP-operated block 31 off Angola, where Statoil has a 13.33% interest.
Named Urano, this discovery succeeds Plutão, Saturno, Marte, Venus, Palas, Ceres, Juno, Astraea and Hebe.
Urano was drilled to a total depth of 4,578 metres below sea level. The drilling was performed from the drilling vessel Jack Ryan in 1,938 metres of water.
This is the first discovery in block 31, where the exploration well was drilled through a salt layer to the oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs, according to BP and the Angolan national oil company Sociedade Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola (Sonangol).
Block 31 covers an area of 5,349 square kilometres. The water depth in the block is between 1,500 and 2,500 metres.