A highly touted exploration well in Newfoundland's offshore that had garnered international attention did not produce the results that energy giants ExxonMobil Canada and Qatar Energy had hoped.

ExxonMobil spokesperson Shelley Sullivan confirmed in an statement to CBC News that the Persephone C-54 exploration well in the Orphan basin "showed no evidence of commercial hydrocarbons."

Sullivan said the well — known in the industry as a wildcat because it was drilled outside of an area with proven oi…