The company said the well drilled about two kilometres to the southeast of the main discovery made in the North Sea in July 2016 confirmed the presence of a hydrocarbon bearing reservoir.

"Importantly, preliminary analysis of the well results confirms Brasse as a commercial discovery," Faroe Petroleum Chief Executive Graham Stewart said in a statement.

The company said last year it planned to start producing oil from Brasse in 2019 or 2020.

Faroe Petroleum operates the licence and holds a 50 percent stake, with the rest held by Norway's Point Resources, owned by private equity investor HitecVision.

The partners are expected to decide shortly whether to drill another appraisal well at the Brasse discovery later this year, Faroe Petroleum said.

(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis. Editing by Jane Merriman)