Scottish oil explorer Cairn Energy Plc today said it had abandoned a second well off the coast of Greenland after failing to find any oil or gas.
Edinburgh-based firm, which was focusing on Greenland after selling controlling stake in cash-rich Indian unit to mining group Vedanta Resources, said it would abandon the Gamma-1 exploration well 294 kilometres off Aasiaat in the Eqqua Block after failing to find a "reservoir or hydrocarbon shows".
It will, however, continue to drill a separate well, Delta-1, in the nearby Napariaq Block.
Company Chief Executive Simon Thomson said, "The full results of the Gamma-1 well and the update from the Delta-1 well will be reviewed in the context of all the data gathered during the Greenland exploration campaign."
"The rigs are scheduled to move south to drill the final two wells of the programme on the Atammik block. We remain focused on the potential of our multi-basin position in Greenland," he added.
The UK firm is looking at a sale of 40% stake in Cairn India to Vedanta for over $6 billion this month. It has received a conditional nod from the Indian government and is now working to fulfil conditions set, including seeking partner state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) nod.
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Cairn is one of several companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp and Encana Corp, awarded Greenland exploration licenses in the last decade. The Scottish explorer had planned to drill as many as four wells off the island at a cost of $600 million this year.
So far, it has not found any commercially viable hydrocarbon resources.
Besides Gamma-1, Cairn had previously plugged the LF7-1 exploration well, about 300 kilometres off Nuuk, Greenland's capital, after failing to find oil last month.