UK independent Orcadian Energy describes its Pilot field as one of the largest undeveloped discoveries in the central North Sea, and until recently it looked likely to remain that way for some time.

But the development got a shot-in-the-arm late last year when Orcadian farmed out a majority interest in the heavy-oil project to Ping Petroleum, another independent oil and gas producer that specialises in shallow-water developments in the North Sea and Malaysia, home of its parent company, DNeX.