Xcite Energy has highlighted the fall in costs in the North Sea following the slump in the crude price, which it said could make it cheaper than expected to develop the Bentley heavy oil field East of Shetland. The Aim-listed firm said it still faced challenges trying to raise the funding needed to bring Bentley into production but the new Oil and Gas Authority regulator had identified the development of the field as one of its top commercial priorities. Announcing that losses narrowed to $1.1million (£0.7m) in the first nine months of 2015, from $3.5m in the same period of 2014, Xcite said: “There is continuing evidence that costs across the industry are falling and are adjusting to the low oil price environment, and we are working to update and incorporate revised estimates into our development cost base.”