Shares in Lundin Petrolium swell after large oil findings off Norway.

• Oil prices blew past 75 dollars
• Lundin Petroleum hikes oil output forecast

Swedish oil company Lundin Petrolium said Friday it had made 'significant discovery' offshore Norway, sparking its shares to rally on the Stockholm exchange.

“Lundin Petroleum is pleased to announce that the drilling of exploration well 16/2-6 on the Avaldsnes prospect has resulted in a significant oil discovery”, the company said in a cheerful statement Friday.

Shares were up more than 16 percent in Stockholm morning trading.

Last month the Swedish company, with oil and gas assets in Europe, Russia, South East Asia and Africa, posted a slightly smaller-than-expected second quarter profit but said it expected output to increase at its wells off Norway.

The well is located in the central North Sea sector of the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The Avaldsnes discovery is located 25 km east of the Lundin Petroleum operated Luno Field.

"The Avaldsnes discovery is a major milestone for Lundin Petroleum and has confirmed our view that following the Luno discovery additional hydrocarbons would be found in the Greater Luno Area”, said Ashley Heppenstall, President and CEO of Lundin Petroleum AB.

The oil firm posted a second-quarter net profit of 365.6 million dollar. The same period last year the company made a 7.5 million dollar profit. The profit was boosted by a 357 million dollar capital gain on a sale of North Sea assets.

Sweden's international prosecutor said in June it will probe whether Lundin Petrolium with connections to Foreign Minister Carl Bildt had any role in war crimes committed in Sudan. Lundin Petroleum, previously called Lundin Oil, denied the allegations.