MARK WILLIAMSON

HURRICANE Energy has suffered a complication in its preparations to bring the giant Lancaster field onstream West of Shetland.

Surrey-based Hurricane said a rope being used to connect a buoy with the floating production storage and offloading vessel for the field had become snagged.

Hurricane said the rope has now been freed and the buoy returned to its starting position. Due to the predicted deterioration in weather conditions, the floating production vessel has returned to the Cromarty Firth to complete remediation work on the buoy pull-in system.

The company still hopes to bring Lancaster onstream in the first half of 2019.

Hurricane’s progress will be watched closely in the industry. Led by Robert Trice, the company has focused on an under-explored geological zone off Shetland where it has made further discoveries since finding Lancaster.

Hurricane Energy shares closed down 2.18p at 47.24p on the Aim market.