Oil and natural gas explorer Kosmos Energy Ltd. said on June 26 it was abandoning one of its wells offshore Suriname after it failed to find oil.

Kosmos said its drilling program would remain unchanged given the independent nature of the prospects and that it was still in the early stages of exploring the basin.

The company said its Anapai-1A exploration well, located in Block 45 offshore Suriname, encountered high quality reservoirs in the targeted zones but did not find hydrocarbons.

Kosmos owns a 50% stake and is the exploration operator of Block 45, with Chevron Corp. holding the remaining interest.

The design for the well had to be reconfigured to address some issues, the company said in May, adding that it had spent about $20 million up until then on drilling it.

The company said drilling will proceed as planned in the third quarter to test Pontoenoe, the first of up to three independent prospects in Block 42 offshore Suriname. Kosmos, Chevron and Hess Corp. each own a third of Block 42.

Energy companies have been pushing further west off the coasts of African oil producers such as Angola, Nigeria and Gabon.

BP and Kosmos Energy moved closer to approving development of the Tortue natural gas field offshore Mauritania and Senegal in February after the two West African countries agreed to split production from the cross-border field.

One of Komsos’ wells in Senegal’s Saint Louis Offshore Profond Block also failed to find oil, the company said in February, sending its shares down as much as 16% on the New York Stock Exchange the day it reported the news.

Kosmos shares had not opened on the London Stock Exchange at 7:45 am GMT June 26, with a wide bid and ask spread of 20 pence. The shares closed up marginally at 625 pence on June 25.