These UK-listed oil and gas firms are making advances in the North Sea
Two London -listed oil and gas firms today announced major advances in their North Sea assets.
Ithaca Energy's Stella field has finally come onstream after electrical faults and bad weather caused delays from late last year.
In a statement today the company said: "Production has been started from the field and oil export to the adjacent shuttle tanker has commenced.
"The production ramp-up phase will commence when the ongoing commissioning of the gas processing and compression facilities is complete," it added.
Israel's Delek Group agreed to buy Ithaca earlier this month in a deal valuing the company at $646m (£519.1m), which shareholders said undervalued it.
Delek, which operates natural gas exploration and production activities in the eastern Mediterranean, already owns 19.7 per cent of the British firm.
Read more: Why is Chrysaor buying Shell's North Sea assets?
FTSE-listed EnQuest also announced positive developments in its North Sea assets today. The firm said its Kraken vessel arrived and has been hooked up successfully.
The Kraken oilfield is one of the largest projects in the North Sea.
The delivery of its first oil is on track for the second quarter this year, EnQuest said in a statement.
Enquest announced in July 2016 it had signed a non-binding deal to sell a 20 per cent stake in the Kraken oilfield to Delek, but in September the talks collapsed.
The oil firm struggled in the commodity price crash, which heaped pressure onto the finances of oil and gas explorers.
Last month, EnQuest agreed to buy a 25 per cent stake in BP's Magnus oil field and surrounding assets in the North Sea, financed through future returns, as it works to bring new life into old fields.