TWO North Sea oil and gas firms have fallen into administration as the fallout from the crude price plunge intensifies.

Specialists from FTI Consulting have been appointed to run Iona Energy Company (UK) plc and Iona UK Huntington Limited.

In November the firms’ Canadian parent company, Iona Energy, said it was likely they would commence insolvency proceedings. It said then a proposed debt restructuring could not be completed as planned after a global energy business pulled out of talks to buy into the Orlando project East of Shetland.

Chad Griffin, one of the Joint Administrators, said:

“The administrations illustrate the significant challenges facing oil and gas companies in the current oil price environment.”

FTI said the administrators are assessing the feasibility of a range of potential transactions in connection with the Orlando project. Discussions continue with interested parties.

The two firms have 11 employees. No immediate redundancies are planned.