Cairn Energy and EnQuest buy out Kraken development partner

Cairn Energy and EnQuest have raised their holdings in the Kraken development in the UK North Sea.

Oil and gas exploration and development company Cairn has acquired an additional 4.5% interest from First Oil through its wholly-owned subsidiary Nautical Petroleum, bringing its total working interest to 29.5%.

There is a nominal cash consideration payable in respect of the transaction but Cairn will waive its right to reclaim approximately $3m of cash calls paid on behalf of First Oil in January and February 2016.

Meanwhile, EnQuest has purchased an additional 10.5%, bringing its total interest to 70.5%. The company also said on Monday that it has waived its right to reclaim around $7m of cash calls paid on behalf of First Oil in the first two months of this year.

The two Kraken fields are located north east of Aberdeen, in a water depth of around 110m and the field development plan includes 25 wells, with first production expected in the first half of next year.

At 0908 GMT, Cairn Energy shares were up 1.5% to 157.70p while EnQuest was up 0.9% to 14.13p.