Repsol Norge has come up dry after drilling a wildcat west of the Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in Upper Cretaceous reservoir rocks.
The operator encountered two reservoir intervals with a total thickness of about 200 metres of sandstone in the Nise formation with good to moderate reservoir quality.
However the reservoir rocks only contain weak traces of gas and the well has been classified as dry.
This is the first exploration well in production licence 705. The licence was awarded in the 22nd licensing round in 2013.
Well 6705/7-1 was drilled to a vertical depth of 3250 metres below the sea surface and was terminated in the Nise formation in the Upper Cretaceous.
Water depth at the site is 1404 metres. The well has now been permanently plugged and abandoned.
Well 6705/7-1 was drilled by the Transocean Spitsbergen drilling facility. Following a short break, the rig will proceed to the UK shelf to drill three wells for Statoil.