Oil well off Falkland Islands turns out dry

Oil exploration in the islands off the coast of South America has caused protests from Argentina, which claims the British territory.

The drilling of Rockhopper's Ernest prospect was being watched closely after the Sea Lion well, drilled by the company in the same basin in May, made a significant oil discovery, sending Rockhopper's shares soaring by more than 500 percent.

"The result of Ernest is disappointing, but the well was always designed to investigate an entirely different geological play type from Sea Lion, to which our focus now turns," said Rockhopper's MD, Sam Moody.

"Once operations are complete at Ernest, our intention, subject to the usual regulatory consents, is to test the Sea Lion discovery and gain as much information from the well as possible as we continue to plan a potential appraisal campaign."

The company will now move to carry out further tests on the Sea Lion discovery to help it plan the potential appraisal campaign, Moody said.

Ernest reached its target depth of 2,240 metres with initial logs confirming that no hydrocarbons had been encountered.