Faroe Petroleum is working with Royal Dutch Shell and Spirit Energy over a drilling decision on a large North Sea prospect this year. The Edinburgh area covers blocks in British and Norwegian waters and is described as one of the largest undrilled structures in the central North Sea.

The three companies have agreed to take an equal share of equity on each of the four licence blocks the area covers, leaving Faroe with 45 per cent, Shell 40 per cent and Spirit with 15 per cent. Faroe, founded in 1997, is being taken over by DNO, its largest shareholder, for 160p a share, which values the company at more than £640 million.

DNO, whose headquarters are in Norway but which produces oil from assets in…