A NORTH Sea gas discovery 120 miles east of Aberdeen has been described as the biggest such find in more than a decade.

China’s state-owned CNOOC announced yesterday that it had found 250 million barrels of recoverable gas in its Glengorm project, in which Total has a quarter share.

While energy company insiders welcomed the news, the green lobby was far from impressed, with Friends of the Earth Scotland (FoES) calling for governments to stop supporting the development of fossil fuels.

Xie Yuhong, CNOOC’s executive vice president, said the company was “looking forward to further appraisal”, while Total’s Kevin McLachlan, added that Glengorm was another “great success for Total”.

“Glengorm is an achievement that demonstrates our capacity to create value in a mature environment thanks to our in-depth understanding of the basin,” he said.

Trade association Oil & Gas UK, welcomed the find, with chief executive, Dr Andy Samuel, describing it as “very exciting”.

He said: “Glengorm was first mapped as a prospect around 20 years ago and it is great to see CNOOC taking up the exploration opportunity and completing a difficult high-pressure, high-temperature exploration well. Initial results show that Glengorm could be one of the biggest finds in the UKCS in recent years, possibly the biggest since the Culzean gas field was discovered 11 years ago.

“This underlines the considerable potential of the UKCS. Our official estimate is that there still remains between 10 and 20 billion barrels plus to be recovered, so there is every chance of yet more significant finds, provided industry can increase exploration drilling and capitalise on the real value to be had here in the UK.”

Regulator the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has, since it was established in 2015, had a major focus on exploration, an area in which budgets have been halved since the global price crash. Its head of exploration and new ventures, Dr Nick Richardson, said: “Those companies that have a bullish attitude and have kept the faith in the UK’s oil and gas sector’s fundamentals will continue to reap the rewards that others have missed.

“If industry can intensify its exploration activity by maturing prospects through sound technical evaluations to active drilling, whilst maintaining the UKs now world-class technical success rates and low finding costs, it will deliver increased value from the significant remaining potential in the basin.”

However, Caroline Rance, FoES climate campaigner, said: “We’ve known for years that we need to leave fossil fuels in the ground if we’re to tackle climate change. But just months after the IPCC’s stark warning on the climate crisis, it’s clear that big oil and gas companies still aren’t listening.

“It’s a disgrace that oil and gas exploration is still going ahead in the seas off Scotland. It’s high time our governments stopped supporting fossil fuel development, and get serious about planning a just transition away from this industry.

“These companies know all too well that their business is built on the destruction of the climate which is devastating for millions of people around the world but they continue to seek profit from driving this catastrophe,” she added.