Spike Exploration has been given the green light for its £103million takeover of North Sea oil firm Bridge Energy.
The Norwegian firm, founded last year and backed by private equity firm HitecVision, announced in September plans to buy the oil group as part of its aggressive expansion into the UK Continental Shelf.
Now the takeover has been given the green light by Norwegian authorities, with the deal expected to be completed within the next 15 days.
Spike confirmed it had been given clearance to complete the takeover by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum, with Bridge set to be delisted from the London AIM and the Oslo Børs.
Bridge, which has a daily oil output of around 1100 barrels per day, has stakes in the Cormorant East, Mermaid and Kerlock North Sea finds.