Norwegian oil and gas firm Statoil has drilled a dry well in the El Dabaa license in the Mediterranean Sea west of the Nile in Egypt, the firm said on March 28.

"Extensive logging has been performed in the well, and preliminary results show that the well is dry," Statoil said in a statement.

It added the drillship used for the drilling, Transocean’s RIG.VX Discoverer Americas, would now head back to the Gulf of Mexico. Statoil is the operator in the El Dabaa license of which it holds 80 percent, with Sonatrach International Petroleum E&P, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Algerian state oil and gas company, holding the remaining 20 percent.

(Source: Reuters)