XCITE Energy has declared its Bentley field as one of the North Sea's major strategic assets after the latest assessment revealed greater reserves than previously indicated.

The Aberdeen-based company said its updated reserves assessment measured the field's proved plus probable reserves (2p) at 250million barrels, more than double the previous estimate.

It also showed a significant hike in the field's mean volume of petroleum in place at 909 million stock tank barrels, up from the 550 million that had been reported in February.

Xcite chief executive Rupert Cole said: "The reservoir delivered a lot more than we had been modelling in the well test, and that was the big upside in terms of longer-term productivity.

"If you look back at the earlier assessment the signs were there, but it is very good news and underlines the value of the well test, which was a very significant project indeed.

"It was very good value for money, hence the increase in reserves."

The latest assessment raised the field's peak production profile over the two phases of its scheduled production, from 35,000 to 45,000 stock tank barrels per day in phase one, and from 40,000 to 57,000 in phase two.

Based on the field containing 250m barrels of reserves, Xcite anticipates generating revenue of $28.2 billion (£18.4bn) "for the life of field development", equal to a weighted price of $113 per barrel.

It now intends to secure further funding to allow it to develop its assets, with Mr Cole confident that the latest reserves assessment on Bentley "puts us on more people's radars".

Last year the company secured a package of $155m (£101m) in reserves-based lending (RBL) from Royal Bank of Scotland and other financial institutions to help it develop the field.

Xcite said steps it had taken to achieve a more balanced phasing of production over two planned stages had given it greater scope to tap into its RBL facility in the initial stages.

Mr Cole said: "We've got a $155m facility on what was 22 million barrels of 1p (proved) reserves. The first phase is now going to be north of 100 million barrels 1p, so you've got something like four or five times the potential borrowing base there.

"The constraints here will be the absolute level that banks will ever lend in this scenario, which is probably about 60% or 70% of your funding requirements, the balance being required to be put in either through equity or in our case a farm-out partner."

With the reserves update complete, Mr Cole said talks would now commence with potential farm-out partners.

Depending on how those go, Xcite hopes to bring the field, which is located 100 miles east of the southern tip of the Shetlands, into production in the latter half of 2015.

Mr Cole said the fact it holds a 100% working interest in the Bentley field gave it a "strong hand" in discussions with potential partners.

The company said it will submit an updated Field Development Plan to the Department of Environment and Climate Change "in the coming months".

Broker Liberum Capital raised its target price for Xcite shares from 242p to 340p and reiterates its recommendation to buy.

Shares in Xcite Energy closed up 9p, or 8.3%, at 118p.