BG Group comes up empty in North Sea

One week into the tenure of its new chief executive, Norwegian regulators said Monday exploration wells came up dry for BG Group in the North Sea.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the nation's energy regulator, said BG Group is in the process of wrapping up operations at two wells in unproven regions of the North Sea. Both wells were drilled about three miles from an area known to have oil and gas.

"Data sampling and acquisition have been carried out in both wells," the regulator said in a statement Monday. "Both wells are classified as dry."

The results come one week after BG Group formally appointed Helge Lund as its new chief executive officer. Lund in October said he was leaving his post as president and chief executive officer of Norwegian energy company Statoil, saying "the time was right for a change."

Lund took over at Statoil in 2004. During his tenure, the company increased production from its international portfolio by fivefold while at the same time increasing market capitalization from $29 billion to more than $76 billion.

Upon his appointment, Lund described BG Group as "a company with a strong set of assets and opportunities."