The company said that while it has not yet made a commercial discovery, all the ingredients for success are in evidence.

Cairn said the drilling programme was extended to complete activities on the last two wells in the Atammik block - AT7-1 and AT2-1 - which have now been abandoned.

It said the 3D seismic data acquired over parts of southern Greenland was being processed and fully migrated results were expected in the first half of next year.

CEO Simon Thomson said: "The first phase of Cairn's exploration programme in Greenland has encountered oil and gas shows across multiple basins and now reservoir-quality sands in the Atammik block.

"Whilst we have yet to make a commercial discovery we remain encouraged that all of the ingredients for success are in evidence.

"Evaluation of data across Cairn's multiple blocks is ongoing against a backdrop of active farm-out discussions for selected areas."

At 9:36am: (LON:CNE) Cairn Energy share price was -13.65p at 261.35p

Story provided by StockMarketWire.com