By Eduard Gismatullin – Nov 13, 2013 7:51 AM GMT
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Tullow Oil Plc failed to find oil or natural gas in their last planned exploration well off French Guiana, a partner said.
The companies drilled the GM-ES-5 well to a total depth of 6,460 meters (21,200 feet), Northern Petroleum Plc (NOP) said today in a statement. The well will be plugged and abandoned.
“Reservoir sequences were encountered as expected but with no evidence of hydrocarbons,” Northern Petroleum said. “Once the drill ship, the Stena ICEMax, has completed the abandonment operations it will move to a location outside French Guiana.”
The result marks the fourth unsuccessful well off the Latin American country, where Tullow made the first oil find with its Zaedyus well in 2011. The Shell-led joint venture, which also includes Total SA (FP) and Wessex Exploration Plc, will suspend drilling until 2015, Northern Petroleum said in September.
Tullow said today in a separate statement that the GM-ES-5 well had reached its target depth and “evaluation operations are ongoing.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at [email protected]
