Statoil is mulling whether to pull the plug on its exploration activities in the Gulf of Mexico, a media report said.
The Norwegian firm did not spud any wells last year, the most recent coming 18 months ago.
It has been involved in several discoveries in the region, but only as a junior partner.
“Even if the fields we have are paying off, the Statoil-operated exploration campaign could so far be characterised as a failure,” Statoil’s exploration chief Tim Dodson told Norwegian news agency Dagens Naeringsliv.
“We’ll consider whether to and how to proceed,” he said.
A Statoil spokesman told Reuters the company is evaluating its work in the region and that no decision has been made on whether or not to continue drilling there as an operator.