Cairn Energy's Greenland Wells Fail To Find Commercial Quanttities Of Oil - Guardian

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Shares in Cairn Energy fell by more than 7% after the oil and gas group said that its controversial drilling programme off the coast of Greenland had come to an end without making a commercial discovery. It said it had managed to complete only two out of four planned wells by the 30 September, the end of the drilling season in Greenland.

The company did not have time to finish drilling a third well where it announced last month oil had been "observed intermittently". The company said it would study data taken from the suspended well before deciding whether to resume drilling after the season begins again next June. Cairn confirmed that the two completed wells, which found traces of hydrocarbons, did not result in commercial discoveries. It said it would write off the $185m (£117m) spent on the drilling programme.

Greenpeace, which opposes the opening up of Arctic regions to oil exploration, disrupted drilling for two days when four activists managed to board Cairn's drilling rig, the Stena Don, at the end of August. Cairn insisted last night that "technical issues" were to blame for not finishing its programme by the end of last month.

It is the first company to drill in the Baffin Bay Basin, an area the size of the North Sea off Greenland's west coast. Even in the summer, the weather is unpredictable and can be treacherous, while little is known about the geology beyond untested seismic data.

EDIT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/oct/26/cairn-energy-greenland-venture-fails