Oil & gas, exploration and production company Tullow Oil has completed drilling of the exploration well 16/5-6 on the Rome prospect in the Central North Sea, offshore Norway.

Tullow informed on Thursday that the well, located in the production licence 776, did not encounter any hydrocarbons and will now be plugged and abandoned.

Tullow’s Norwegian subsidiary and the operator, Tullow Oil Norge, has a 40% operated interest in licence PL776 with Concedo, Wintershall and Petoro each holding 20%.

The well was drilled to a total vertical depth of 2,319 metres below sea level by the semi-submersible Borgland Dolphin rig in a water depth of 98 metres.

The company obtained a drilling permit for the well from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) in May 2016, and a consent to drill the exploration well with the Borgland Dolphin semi-sub from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) in early June.

Borgland Dolphin will now move on to its next location in the North Sea to drill a wildcat well for Wintershall Norge for which the company gained a drilling permit earlier this week.

The rig is currently under the drilling contract with Rig Management Norway, a consortium of four oil companies that include Wintershall, DEA, Tullow Oil and Suncor Energy.