The Spaniards East oil exploration well in the North Sea is to be plugged and abandoned after operator Premier Oil today said it was dry.
A large number of oil companies had stakes in the prospect, which is close to the Perth field.
Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy owned a 21 per cent stake in the field, while Parkmead – which is run by Dana Petroleum founder Tom Cross – held a 12.6 per cent interest and Aberdeen-based explorer Faroe Petroleum had an 8.4 per cent stake.
Neither Faroe nor Parkmead have contributed to the cost of the well.
Graham Stewart, chief executive at Faroe, described the well as having a “reasonably high level of risk”, adding that “Faroe will be participating in a very active ongoing drilling programme in 2013 and we also await the results from the BP operated North Uist exploration well, west of Shetland”.
Shares in Parkmead fell by as much as 10 per cent in early trading, but Faroe’s shares only dipped by about 2 per cent.
The other companies with stakes in the well were Atlantic Petroleum, Maersk Oil UK and Serica.