North Sea operator Trapoil says it has been forced to pull out of its planned farm-in to the Trent East Terrace.
The firm had agreed in February to take a 33.33% stake in the licence , which includes the Trent East gas find, from Perenco.
But the deal was dependent on partner Hollywell, which had agreed to take on Perenco’s remaining stake in the field.
Now it has emerged that Holywell has not agreed to certain conditions in the deal, leading to Trapoil withdrawing from the bid and Perenco scrapping the farm-in.
“Whilst it is disappointing to no longer be proceeding with the TET farm-in opportunity, we place great importance on working closely with fully aligned partners and believe that the termination of the agreement is in the best interests of all parties concerned,” said Trapoil chief executive Mark Groves Gidney.
Trapoil had planned to spend around £5million on well costs for the field, which is thought to contain up to 60billion cubic feet of gas.
The company says it will also make a decision on whether to go ahead with drilling on the neighbouring Conrad prospect by the end of January next year.
Trapoil has a 30% stake in the field, but admitted that the failure to secure the farm-in to Trent East could impact on the proposed development of the Conrad find, which it had originally planned to tie back to Trent.
