The well was drilled into the mid Jurassic reservoir of the Garn Formation with indications of hydrocarbons based on log response and increased gas levels. As planned for in a success case, coring of the hydrocarbon bearing zones will now be carried out, which is expected to take up to several weeks, the company said.

In addition, it is planned to undertake extensive data collection in order to perform a full formation evaluation.

Partners in the well are Centrica Resources (Centrica) (operator 28%), Petro-Canada, (30%) E.ON Ruhrgas (15%) and North Energy (12%). The drilling operation is being undertaken by the operator Centrica using the West Alpha semi-submersible drilling rig.

Situated in approximately 280mt water depth, Fogelberg (license PL433) is a substantial prospect, located within a rotated fault block some 10km to the north of the Statoil operated producing Asgard Field complex, within the Norwegian Sea.

The structure is similar to the recent Statoil operated Morvin oil and gas discovery, located 10km to the south west, which was successfully appraised in 2006 by Statoil and is expected to come on stream towards the end of 2010. Faroe Petroleum was awarded this license in 2007, as one of its first Norway licenses.

Graham Stewart, chief executive of Faroe Petroleum, said: ”We are very pleased to announce the successful drilling of the Fogelberg prospect and the promising findings so far. Alongside our partners Centrica, E.ON Ruhrgas and Petro Canada, we look forward to the coring and evaluation results which will determine the size and scale of Fogelberg.”