Researchers from Aberdeen University have announced that they are to undertake a two-year investigation of potential new oil fields in the Faroe-Shetland basin.

According to the scientists the 117 square mile stretch of sea, located between the two groups of islands, could be home to reserves which have remain undiscovered and untapped for more than 40 million years, largely due to the thick layer of lava found on the sea bed.

While this lava has hitherto proved an obstacle for exploration efforts, the new £600,000 project will see the research team make use of new technology to penetrate the natural barrier and allow for the mapping of sediments and the possible identification of oil reservoirs.

David Jolley, a senior lecturer of geosciences at the university, explained: "Exploiting the previously untapped resources which lie within the Faroe-Shetland basin essentially means the introduction to the industry of an entirely new geographical area for future oil discovery and, therefore, production.

"The revolutionary technology we will use may enable this promising region to become an extremely prosperous part of the oil and gas industry in the future," he told Aberdeen's Press and Journal.

He added that scientists currently know as much about the Faroe-Shetland basin as they did about the Brent fields in the early 1970s.