CAIRN Energy has eased pressure on its finances resulting from a tax dispute in India by selling a 10 per cent stake in the giant Catcher field off Scotland to Dyas of Holland for up to $182 million (£110m).

With Catcher expected to come onstream in 2017, the deal will result in a big fall in the amount of money the company has to shell out in coming years.

Edinburgh-based Cairn said the deal with the Dutch company will mean its share of the bill for bringing Catcher into production will fall by $380m, from $580m to $200m.

Chief executive Simon Thomson said: "This value enhancing transaction provides us with significant additional operational flexibility to deliver the Group's strategy."

The deal reflects stong interest in UK North Sea oil and gas assets among international investors.

Cairn will retain a 20 per cent holding in Catcher, which lies 120 miles east of Aberdeen, giving it exposure to any increase in the field's value.

However, some may ask if the company should have maintained its holding in Catcher, one of the biggest North Sea fields to be developed in years.

Operated by Premier Oil, Catcher is expected to achieve peak production of 50,000 barrels oil equivalent per day. Cairn's share of production at that level would fall by 5,000 boepd under the deal with Dyas, to 10,000 boepd.

Renowned for making bumper finds off India, Cairn acquired its holding in Catcher in 2012 through the takeovers of Agora Oil & Gas and Nautical Petroleum for around £700m in total.

The acquisition of Nautical also brought Cairn an interest in the giant Kraken heavy oil field off Shetland, due onstream in 2017.

Mr Thomson bought the companies under a strategy to balance exploration in frontier areas such as Senegal with lower risk investments in North Sea fields.

The company could use the cash generated from North Sea production to fund activity elsewhere.

However, Cairn has hit unexpected complications in India since buying back into the North Sea.

The group retains a 10 per cent holding, valued at around $1 billion, in its former subsidiary Cairn India. It expected to be able to sell down the stake to raise funds to use elsewhere.

The Indian Government has blocked the company selling any shares in Cairn India pending resolution of a dispute over its tax affairs. This is believed to concern the flotation of Cairn India on the Bombay Stock Exchange in 2007.

Cairn's founder, Sir Bill Gammell, spoke of his sadness at the dispute after retiring from the board following the company's general meeting in May. While Cairn has always insisted it has paid all taxes due in India, there is no sign of the matter being resolved.

In August, Cairn said it was consulting staff about making an unspecified number of jobs redundant under a programme that would result in a "fairly significant reduction in the fixed cost base".

Mr Thomson said then the proposed changes reflected the fact Cairn was nearing the end of a progamme of deep water drilling in frontier areas like Greenland. It has spent around $1bn drilling off Greenland without a commercial find.

The company sold a controlling stake in Cairn India to Vedanta for $5.5bn in 2011, and paid $3.5bn of the proceeds to shareholders.

Dyas will acquire ten per cent stakes in three UK licences from Cairn for funding its exploration and development costs in respect of these, up to $182m.

Shares in Cairn Energy closed up 3.2p at 184p.