Gas has been found by StatoilHydro in the Asterix prospect, which lies in 1,360 metres of water 345 kilometres west of Sandnessjøen in the Norwegian Sea. Preliminary estimates put the proven recoverable volume, which is located 80 kilometres west of the Luva gas discovery, at about 16 billion cubic metres (100 million barrels of oil equivalent). “This represents one of the bigger discoveries off Norway in recent years, and we’re very pleased with the result,” said Tove Stuhr Sjøblom, StatoilHydro’s head of Norwegian exploration. The resources are located in Upper Cretaceous reservoir rocks. No formation test was carried out, but extensive data gathering and coring took place in the reservoir.