Independent Oil and Gas Plc (LON:IOG) failed to add extra resources to the Skipper project as deeper exploration in the new well found no hydrocarbons.
The two exploration targets - the Lower Dornoch and Maureen formations - were the well’s secondary target, and it will now be plugged and abandoned.
The North Sea junior earlier this week announced success with the Skipper well’s primary target which was to appraise the Skipper reservoir and to retrieve a sample of moveable oil from the well.
Oil samples are now being analysed in Aberdeen.
IOG repeated its prior observation that the samples are likely to show viscosity within the range expected by the company’s management, which would be better than previously determined by a third-party consultant.
If confirmed by lab analysis the company expects the Skipper field will need fewer development wells, which will improve the project’s economics.
“Whilst the exploration prospects did not encounter hydrocarbons, I am increasingly confident that the commerciality of the Skipper field has been confirmed now that we have the data we need to progress to the field development planning," said Mark Routh, IOG chief executive.
He added: “We are encouraged by the good quality oil samples retrieved, the well's primary objective. Initial observations strongly suggest we have a better oil viscosity than the CPR estimates.”