Hopes that the latest drilling in Dublin Bay would produce an oil or gas find have been dashed with Enterprise Oil plugging and abandoning its Ulysses well on the Kish Bank without finding any hydrocarbons.

This is only the second well to be drilled on the Kish Bank - the first was drilled more than 20 years ago - and the dry well may mean the end of exploration on what has always been seen in the industry as a fringe exploration area.

Enterprise Oil general manager, Mr John McGoldrick said: "We have gained useful information about the area which we will fully evaluate, but clearly we are disappointed not to have made a discovery."

Enterprise's next drilling will be off the west coast next summer when an appraisal well of its 1996 Corrib North gas discovery will be drilled.