North Sea oil company up for sale

ABERDEEN, Scotland, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Oilexco Inc. has been put up for sale just two weeks after the North Sea oil company was unable to raise capital.

The Times of London reported Sunday that investment company Morgan Stanley has received interest from larger Oilexco rivals BG Group, Talisman Energy and Petro-Canada. Maersk, the Danish shipping giant.

The company hired Morgan Stanley last month to help it find new funding after it canceled a $180 million bond and share issue the day after publishing a prospectus because it was poorly received by investors.

Although this summer Oilexco was worth more than $2.5 billion, the company based in Aberdeen, Scotland, has since lost more than 90 percent of its value as attempts to refinance debt have failed, the newspaper reported.

"If you want to look at a case study for the impact of the credit crunch on independent oil companies, this is it," said a banker. "This is a mighty fall from grace. It calls into question the fundamental model of (exploration and production) companies and shows the fragility of these businesses."