ABU DHABI ø Oman, struggling to reverse declining oil production, has reported a major energy find.

The state-owned Petroleum Development Oman said it has found oil in the Shuaiba Formation, in the Malaan region of northwestern Oman. The discovery came after the first well drilled in Malaan four years ago failed to yield a commercial quantity of oil. Oman's oil production has dropped to under 800,000 barrels of oil per day.

The Shuaiba Formation has been deemed a leading reserve in Oman and contains the Yibal field, which has been producing oil since the early 1970s. Officials said the latest discovery at Malaan-3, drilled in June and yielding 2,600 barrels of oil per day, was attributed to advanced technology and a new approach to oil exploration. In February, Malaan-2 was drilled and has been producing 1,800 barrels of oil per day.

"The new setting suggested that we could expect better-quality reservoirs and a higher oil content down the flank of the Malaan structure," Stephen Hiebert, a senior analyst at PDO, said. "But this theory is counter to the conventional thinking of petroleum prospectors, which holds that the most likely place for good oil production is at the crest of a geological structure."