NORTH Sea-focused Hurricane Energy has said it has suspended talks about selling a stake in a field West of Shetland pending the results of forthcoming drilling.

Surrey-based Hurricane said that after raising £52m from investors in April it had suspended farm out discussions regarding the Lancaster find until has the results of two appraisal wells the backing will fund.

Chief executive Robert Trice said: “We look forward to this summer's drilling campaign and are confident that the additional data obtained will put the Company in a stronger position from which to pursue funding options to progress the Lancaster development."

Hurricane received a big boost for its hopes of developing the Lancaster find when it completed the fund raising in April amid the downturn in the North Sea triggered by the crude price slump.

The Kerogen private equity fund provided £44m of the backing, in a move that reflected the view among some investors that deals cans be done at attractive valuations in the North Sea.

Hurricane calls Lancaster one of the UK’s largest yet to be developed fields.

Estimated to contain up to around 450 million barrels of oil equivalent, Hurricane lies in an area of hard granite rock found below the sandstone reservoirs that have formed the basis for the majority of North Sea exploration.

Hurricane expects to be able to produce from such basement reservoirs by tapping into natural fractures in the rock through which oil could flow.