Swedish oil firm Lundin Petroleum has found oil while drilling an appraisal well at its Edvard Grieg find in the North Sea, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said on Monday.

Lundin Petroleum is the operator of Edvard Grieg and has a stake of 50 percent. Austria's OMV has a stake of 20 percent, Statoil holds 15 percent and Germany's Wintershall, a unit of chemicals giant BASF , has 15 percent.

Later, Lundin said that the amount of oil and gas estimated to be in place at the Edvard Grieg oilfield is unlikely to change after a recent round of drilling.

"At this stage I expect the impact on Edvard Grieg resources to be neutral with upside remaining from the conglomeratic reservoir," Chief Executive Ashley Heppenstall said in a statement.
The field has estimated gross reserves of 185 million barrels of oil equivalent.

(By Gwladys Fouche)