Dubai oil find unlikely to help Dubai debt

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Dubai's newly discovered oil field is unlikely to generate the big cash needed to get the debt-ridden emirate out of the doldrums, analysts say, challenging the government's claim that it could inject new life into its ailing economy.

"Foreign companies have explored and developed the area over a long period and any large finds should already have been made," says Middle East energy analyst Samuel Ciszuk at IHS Global Insight in London.

The announcement by Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum of a sizeable offshore discovery on February 4 has attracted considerable attention.