Lundin spent millions on dry holes

Swedish energy company Lundin Petroleum said Tuesday it spent roughly $127 million on exploration programs during the first quarter of the year without success.

Lundin said two exploration wells drilled in Norway and two exploration wells completed in Indonesia during the first quarter came up empty. Expenses for both operations will be offset by tax credits, the company said.

Ashley Heppenstall, the top executive at Lundin Petroleum, said in January his company expects strong production this year in part from its Norwegian assets.

Norwegian developments represent 72 percent of Lundin's production forecast. Combined production from the Boyla, Bertram and Edvard Grieg fields in Norway should exceed 75,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day once they start full production in 2015

The reserves held by Lundin, which has headquarters in Sweden, would increase more than threefold once the Johan Sverdrup field off the coast of Norway reaches its full production capacity, Heppenstall said. Johan Sverdrup is estimated to contain more than 1.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent reserves.