Xcite Energy has been seeking out partners to help fund its North Sea Bentley Field for months amid an industry-wide slowdown in project financing.
The firm, which has a base in Aberdeen, holds and operates 100% of Bentley, one of the North Sea’s largest untapped resources.
The field, about 100 miles east of Shetland, has the potential to produce more than 700million barrels of oil over 35 years.
The Bentley block licence has been extended a number of times, and currently has until June 2017 to run.
Xcite has said it intends to submit a field development plan to the Oil and Gas Authority this year.
But the company is heavily in debt, with more than $100million overdue for repayment.
In February Xcite said it had received “indicative proposals” for funding which could pave the way for the field’s development, but any agreement has yet to be firmed up and announced.
Lenders recently gave Xcite some extra breathing space to sort out a refinancing.
The company has been set a deadline of September 30 for the repayment of outstanding bonds, which represents a three-month-long extension.
It means the coming weeks are crucial for the company and its investors, who are on tenterhooks while they wait to see whether their shares will be diluted.
In 2014, Xcite carried out a refinancing with a $140million bond issue.
