Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA (DETNOR) rose to a 4 1/2 month high in Oslo after an exploration well confirmed a 14-meter oil column in an extension of the Johan Sverdrup find, which could be Norway’s biggest in almost 40 years. The Trondheim, Norway-based company gained as much as 2.5 percent to 91.8 kroner a share, the highest intraday level since Oct. 19, and traded up 2 percent as of 11:50 a.m. local time. More than 211,000 shares have been traded so far today, equivalent to almost 75 percent of the average daily volume during the last three months. A well in production license 502 in the North Sea confirmed the oil column in a southern extension of the Sverdrup area, Det Norske said in a statement today. Final results of the exploration well aren’t yet available, the company said. The Johan Sverdrup discovery, which could hold as much as 3.6 billion barrels according to operators Statoil ASA (STL) and Lundin Petroleum AB (LUPE), has rekindled interest in the Norwegian North Sea, where crude production from maturing fields has dropped by half since peaking in 2000. Statoil, Norway’s largest oil and gas producer, has a 44.4 percent stake in license 502, while Petoro AS, which manages Norway’s direct stakes in its oil and gas assets, owns 33.3 percent. Det Norske has the remaining 22.2 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Mikael Holter in Oslo at mholter2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net

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