Faroe Petroleum to acquire North Sea oil field stake

Faroe's shares have risen by more than a quarter since it announced an oil strike in Norway

The Aberdeen-based oil and gas explorer, Faroe Petroleum, has agreed to buy a stake in an oil field in the North Sea from an Italian firm.

Faroe will pay around £60m for 18% of the Blane oil field from Italy's ENI.

As part of the deal, Faroe has also agreed to farm out three of its exploration licences in the Atlantic Margin to ENI.

In April, Faroe reported a gas discovery under Norwegian waters, followed in July by an oil discovery.

Since the oil strike in Norway's Maria field, shares in the company have increased by more than 25%.

On the news of the latest acquisition, the company's share price continued to rise.

Graham Stewart, chief executive of Faroe Petroleum, said: "We are delighted to be able to broaden our portfolio through the acquisition of the Blane Interest and significantly boost our oil and gas revenue generation capacity with the addition of this high quality producing oil field.

"Blane is a field we know very well - it is a low risk, low opex operation but with exciting potential upside."