NORTH Sea-focused Faroe Petroleum has fired a fresh salvo in its bitter despite with a Norwegian oil firm that proposed a boardroom shake up at the company.

DNO had wanted two of its directors voted on to the Faroe board but shelved the proposal on Monday after running into fierce opposition from the Aberdeen-based company.

Faroe said DNO’s move was wholly self-serving and part of an undisclosed strategy on its part to try and gain control of the company on the cheap.

Oslo-listed DNO on Monday expressed deep disappointment at what it described as Faroe Petroleum’s “repeated peremptory and disdainful attitude” to its proposal.

Complaining of Faroe’s increasingly hostile public response, DNO said it would not seek a shareholder meeting to vote on the call for change while it considered its position.

DNO said it had requested a shareholder meeting to raise concerns about Faroe’s wider governance culture and shareholder value strategies as well as seeking suitable representation on its board.

Faroe said yesterday it did not give any credence to the reasons given by DNO for withdrawing its proposal.

The company reiterated its view that DNO’s proposal would have been soundly defeated based on discussions with major institutional shareholders.

Aim-listed Faroe said it maintains a strong corporate governance culture in line with UK best practice.

“In keeping with this, the Chief Executive and the Senior Independent Director of Faroe both wrote separately to DNO earlier this year to offer a meeting but no response was received to either communication,” said Faroe.

DNO has built a 28.23 per cent stake in Faroe since the start of April.

On 4 April DNO said it had decided to build a long term strategic shareholding in Faroe Petroleum and to support Faroe Petroleum management's growth focused North Sea strategy.

The company said then it did not intend to make an offer for Faroe. It could only bid for Faroe within six months of the statement in limited circumstances.