Hurricane Energy is set to announce it has made a further, important oil discovery west of Shetland, according to the Financial Times.

The news comes just days after the UK’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) awarded 25 licences to 17 companies in the 29th Offshore Licensing Round to enable further exploration and production across “frontier” areas of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).

The latest discovery adds to a series of successful wells drilled by Hurricane in an area that analysts say could be the biggest new oil discovery beneath UK waters this century, according to the Financial Times.

The report said Hurricane is expected to announce that initial data from its Halifax well indicates the presence of a 1km-deep oil column and that it appears to be part of “a single large hydrocarbon accumulation” connected to the company’s Lancaster field.

This would increase confidence behind the companys claim to be sitting on the largest undeveloped discovery on the UK continental shelf and boost efforts to attract investment from international oil majors, the FT report said.

The report cited analysts at Cenkos Securities describing Halifax as arguably the most important well drilled in UK waters this century and predicting that if a link with Lancaster was found the area could hold over one billion barrels of oil.