One of the most highly anticipated exploration prospects in the UK North Sea this year has come up dry.

Siccar Point Energy had been hoping to recover between one and three trillion cubic feet of gas from Lyon, but has announced drillers “did not encounter reservoir quality sandstone”.

The well, around 75miles north-west of Shetland, has now been plugged and abandoned by the Ocean GreatWhite drilling rig.

It comes after Siccar Point’s Blackrock well was also announced as non-commercial earlier this month.

Siccar Point operates Lyon with a 33.34% stake, with the remainder held by partner Ineos.

The hope had been for Lyon to be large enough to act as a hub for nearby assets, such as Tobermory, Bunnehaven and Cragganmore as tie-back candidates, similar to Total’s Laggan-Tormore fields.

At present, Tobermory needs more discoveries to be economic due to its distance from existing infrastructure, while Siccar said it needs further appraisal work on Bunnehaven to assess its size.

Chief executive Jonathan Roger said the firm will continue to explore the region’s potential.

He said: “We look forward to continuing to explore the area, which we believe still has prospectivity, and will be looking at participating in forthcoming UK licensing rounds in order to do that.”

The Ocean GreatWhite is now at the Cambo field, around 75miles north-west of Shetland, thought to contain at least 600million barrels of oil.

Siccar Point has said it is seeking to reach a final investment decision on Cambo by the end of this year.