YEREVAN, JULY 16, ARMENPRESS. Royal Dutch Shell  PLC said it made a third major oil discovery in the Norphlet play in deep waters of the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

As reports “Armenpress” citing Wall Street Journal, Shell's Rydberg well is 75 miles offshore in 7,479 feet of water. The well, which was drilled to a depth of 26,371 feet, encountered more than 400 feet of net oil pay. Shell expects the discovery contains an estimated 100 million barrels of oil equivalent.

The latest discovery brings Shell's total potential discoveries in the Norphlet play to more than 700 million barrels of oil equivalent.

"These successes represent the emergence of another hub for Shell's deep-water activities that should generate shareholder value," said Marvin Odum, Shell Upstream Americas director.

Shell has an operator interest in the Rydberg discovery of 57.2%. The U.S. affiliate of Colombia's state-run oil company Ecopetrol SA  has a 28.5% interest and the Nexen subsidiary of Chinese oil major Cnooc Ltd. 0883.HK 0.00% has a 14.3% stake.