BG Group has announced that it has made a "significant" North Sea oil discovery off the coast of Norway, with initial testing pointing to a production capacity of around 7,500 barrels a day.

The Snorre field discovery was made in cooperation with BG's consortium partners, namely Norway's Regus Energy, Japan's Idemitsu and RWE of Germany.

According to a statement released by Regus, plans are in place to undertake further studies of the north-east region of the North Sea, with another well be to drilled alongside this new find so as to determine its true potential.

Revus chief executive Harlad Vaboe was quoted by the Telegraph as noting: "It is too early to estimate how much oil has been discovered in this well bore, but we do believe that as a consequence of this discovery, there is a relatively high probability that this area could contain enough oil and gas to double Revus's current reserves and contingent resources."

This latest discovery caps a good month for BG Group - the UK's third largest oil producer - after it recently confirmed that it has made a new discovery in the oil-rich Santos Basin off the Brazilian coast.