Shell's (SHEL.L) Cullinan-1X exploration well offshore Namibia did not make a commercial oil and gas discovery, the company said on Thursday.

Namibia, which has yet to produce any oil and gas, has attracted strong interest from international companies after Shell and TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) recently made discoveries off the coast of the southern African country.

"The well did not make a discovery, however we are encouraged to have found indications of a working petroleum system in this previously untested area of our licence," Shell said in a statement.

The well was plugged and abandoned and Shell will now analyse the data gathered before deciding on any follow-up activity, it said.

Shell and its partners QatarEnergy and Namibia's national oil company made four oil discoveries in the southern African country in recent years including the Graff and Jonker wells.

Its head of upstream Zoë Yujnovich said on June 14 that results from drilling tests so far were encouraging.