Aberdeen-based First Oil Expro enters administration

Aberdeen-based First Oil Expro has entered administration.

As a result, Enquest and Cairn Energy will take on the company's 15% stake in the Kraken North Sea Oil field.

Enquest will now have a 70.5% interest in the vast field, and Cairn a 29.5% interest.

First Oil began reviewing its operations last year as the oil price fell and started the process of selling parts of the business.

'Significant challenges'

Zennor Petroleum is expected to take on its interests in the Mungo and Monan, Bacchus, Cormorant East and Causeway fields.

Blair Nimmo, joint administrator and head of restructuring at KPMG in Scotland, said the sales, via the administration process, were a reflection of the "significant challenges facing UK North Sea oil and gas companies in the current oil price environment".

He said: "These sales will ensure that the group's four largest field interests are smoothly transferred to new ownership, and provide time to resolve the position concerning the smaller assets in the group's portfolio."