A frontier wildcat being drilled by Brazil’s HRT offshore southern Africa’s Namibia has proved to be a duster, according to partner Galp Energia.

The Portuguese-headquartered company said the third well in this year’s Namibian deepwater drilling campaign off Namibia, targeting the Moosehead prospect, was a dry hole.

The HRT-operated well was drilled by the Transocean Marianas semisubmersible rig in a water depth of approximately 1,716 m (5,630 ft), and reached a final depth of 4,170 m (13,682 ft). Galp said the Moosehead-1 well hit approximately 100 m (328 ft) of carbonates at the top of the primary target, with porosity less developed than expected. Further analysis will be conducted to define potential forthcoming exploration activities, it added.

Moosehead-1 was drilled in Petroleum Exploration License (PEL) 24, and is now being plugged and abandoned. The rig is now available for sub-lease.

The main objective of the well was to test the resource potential of Barremian-aged carbonate reservoirs, within a 546sq km 4-way dip closure, mapped on 3D seismic. HRT said it had expected the reservoirs to be equivalent to the Brazil and Angola pre-salt reservoirs.

Extensive formation evaluation was performed to confirm the nature and quality of the carbonate reservoir and source rock intervals, including wireline logs and sidewall core samples.

Wet gas shows were encountered in the section that increased in wetness with depth, added Galp, with at least two potential source rocks penetrated, including the well-developed Aptianage source rock. Indications of source rocks in the deeper rift section were also apparent, though not penetrated.

“Further analysis of the well sampling will greatly help with continuing exploration in Namibia,” it said.

Galp holds a 14% stake in the consortium exploring three PELs offshore Namibia, namely PEL 23 in the Walvis basin, and PEL 24 and PEL 28 in the Orange basin.