Karoon Energy's Marina-1 deepwater exploration well, in the Z-38 license offshore Peru, has come up dry and will be plugged and abandoned.
Tullow, Karoon's partner in the project said Monday that the well had reached Total Depth "and has not encountered significant hydrocarbons."
The well tested the La Cruz and Mal Pelo formations where minor gas shows were encountered however there were no indications of hydrocarbons in the primary targets in the Tumbes formation, Tullow said.
The Stena Forth drillship drilled the Marina-1 well to a Total Depth of 3,022 meters in 362 meters of water and the well will now be plugged and abandoned.
Mark MacFarlane, Tullow's Chief Operating Officer, said: "This is the first-ever well in the deep-water section of the under-explored Tumbes basin. We will now integrate the important well information with the seismic data that we are currently reprocessing and update our prospect inventory for blocks Z-38 and Z-64."
"Tullow is building an extensive exploration position in Peru and, while this result is not what we had hoped for, we remain positive about Peru's wider offshore exploration potential."
In a separate statement, Karoon Energy said Marina-1 had provided a large amount of valuable data on the geological setting for that region of the
Tumbes Basin.
"Several potential reservoir sequences were encountered in the well, unfortunately, these sections were water wet and provide no prospectivity at this location. The well results will now be thoroughly analyzed, but no further drilling is planned in Block Z38 in this campaign," Karoon said.
The company said its primary focus continues to be completing the Bauna acquisition "and delivering on our growth aspirations in Brazil."