Chariot Oil & Gas has drilled a duster with its frontier deepwater probe offshore Namibia.

The U.K.-based explorer said the Tapir South Well #1811/5-1 on northern Block 1811A in the Namibe Basin reached a total depth of 4,879 m (16,008 ft) but hit no commercial hydrocarbons. The well, being drilled by the Mærsk Deliverer semisubmersible drillship in 2,134 m (7,000 ft) of water and operated by Chariot’s wholly-owned Namibian subsidiary, Enigma Oil & Gas (Pty) Ltd., will now be plugged and abandoned.

The well encountered 173 m (568 ft) of net reservoir sand of Cretaceous age, including two zones in excess of 30 m (98 ft) with average porosities of 24% and evidence of good permeability. Carbonate intervals were also penetrated with porosities up to 18% over a net interval of 28 m (92 ft); these results exceeded Chariot’s pre-drill estimates.

Detailed analyses will be conducted on the data collected during the drilling of Tapir South, it added. This information will be used to calibrate the existing data set and a resource.

Update of the remaining prospectivity in the block will be provided once this evaluation has been completed.

Paul Welch, chief executive officer of Chariot, said, “Whilst the results of the Tapir South well are disappointing, this is the first well of a longer term drilling campaign within a frontier region and only the second well ever to have been drilled in the Namibe Basin. Our understanding of this basin is rapidly improving and we expect this well to provide more information on the character and maturity of the potential source rocks when we carry out detailed analyses on the recovered samples.”

Chariot and its partners will next drill the Kabeljou Well #2714/6-1 on southern Block 2714A targeting the Nimrod prospect third quarter. It will be the second well in the company’s four to five well drilling program.