Hurricane Energy was whipping up a storm on Friday with an oil discovery that could revitalise the North Sea.

Hurricane is a specialist in fractured basements, which is a new play for the UK, but is a bedrock for production in Vietnam, Libya and the Yemen.

Chief executive Robert Trice’s early hunch that these basement accumulations of crude existed in the inhospitable waters off the Shetland Islands has been well and truly vindicated.

And the latest impressive results from the company’s Lancaster field were greeted with a 44 per cent rise in the share price, which is up 245 per cent in the year to date.

Compare and contrast that with the performance of the rest of sector and you’ll see why early investors may be forgiven for being a little smug about their foresight.