Cairn Energy have announced that one of their four exploration wells located off Greenland has been abandoned as there was no commercial discovery. While their shareholders suffered, the company have come under heavy criticism from environmental campaigners Greenpeace.
Located around 300km off Nuuk, the LF7-1 exploration well is preparing to be plugged. A spokesman from Cairn Energy told ELN: “It’s unlikely there will be any real environmental impact.”
However, Greenpeace have attacked the oil company. In a statement released earlier the green campaigners called Cairn “cowboys”.
Greenpeace campaigner Ben Ayliffe said:”Cairn Energy took a multi-million dollar gamble with the fragile Arctic environment and came up with nothing. This should be a lesson to other oil companies like Shell who are eyeing up new ventures among the icebergs in the far North. What was already an unattractive investment now looks even riskier.”
Greenpeace activists have run a sustained campaign of direct action against Cairn Energy’s Arctic drilling over the last five months.
Shares dropped by 4% on the FTSE 100 index in late-morning trading, after news that it would abandon the LF7-1 exploration well on the Lady Franklin block after failing to encounter the anticipated reserves.
Initial analysis of the area indicated the presence of oil prone source rocks in the basin.