Hunt Oil Company achieved its first international success with the discovery of the Beatrice field in the British North Sea. Called by industry media “the discovery of the year in the North Sea,” the project was important, not because of its size (approximately 500 million barrels of oil in place) but, rather, because the rank wildcat discovered oil in an area of the North Sea that the industry believed was nonproductive. This discovery paved the way to greater international finds in the next decade.