Greenland wells come up empty for Cairn again

Cairn Energy continues to struggle in its efforts to strike oil off the west coast of Greenland.

The Scottish energy company announced Sept. 13 it has little to show for two wells it drilled off Disko Island this summer.

Cairn said it’s preparing to cap and abandon the Gamma-1 test well, 1,500 metres beneath the surface and located nearly 300 kilometres from Aasiaat.

The Delta-1 well, located 365 kilometres from Aasiaat in 293 metres of water, has shown “only minor hydrocarbon indications” so far.

Cairn is moving two drill rigs south to an area west of Nuuk to drill two more test wells before its summer drilling program wraps up for the season.

The news will come as a blow to Greenland, which has actively courted offshore development as a key means of funding its independence from Denmark, but so far it hasn’t realized its early expectations.

The company reported last month that it planned to plug and abandon the Lady Franklin 7-1 exploration well, about 300 km off Nuuk, after it failed to find oil there.

Then, trying to sound upbeat, Simon Thomson, Cairn’s chief executive, said in a statement that he remained “encouraged.”

“We continue to be optimistic about the remainder of our 2011 four-well, multi-basin exploration programme offshore Greenland.”

Environmental groups like Greenpeace are strongly opposed to the drilling project, saying an oil spill in the Arctic would devastate the environment.