Husky Energy (HSE.TO) and Norway's Statoil have hit dry wells in a prospect off Newfoundland for which they had high hopes, Statoil said on Monday.

The companies have drilled two dry wells in the Flemish Pass geological basin, some 500 km east of Canada's Newfoundland and Labrador province.

"These results are disappointing, as we had hoped to add additional optionality to the near-field area at Bay du Nord," Trond Jacobsen, Statoil's head exploration in Canada, said in a statement.

After Statoil struck oil at Bay du Nord in 2013, it became one of its key priorities for further exploration and the firm hoped it could find enough oil and gas to develop it for production.

Bay du Nord is still estimated to hold some 300 million barrels of recoverable oil. A development of that field remains under evaluation, Statoil said.

Statoil shares were up 0.7 per cent at 8:48 a.m. ET, slightly beating a European oil and gas index up 0.16 per cent.