Shell finds light oil reserves at mountain in Albania

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Shell Upstream Albania B.V. has confirmed "a significant light oil discovery" at a mountain south of the capital, Tirana.

A statement Friday quoted Marc Gerrits, Shell's executive vice president in exploration, as saying that "initial tests have confirmed the potential of this discovery."

The discovery at the Shpirag mountain, 120 kilometers (75 miles) from Tirana, has "a flow potential of several thousand barrels of oil per day ... in a fractured carbonate reservoir," an equivalent geological setting to the large Val D'Agri and Tempa Rossa fields in Italy, in which Shell holds a substantial position.

Albania, on the Adriatic Sea, has other oil wells with estimated reserves of hundreds of millions of barrels.