The UKs’ largest independent oil and gas producer plans to raise £82m through an equity share placing to give it financial room for manoeuvre before its cornerstone project in the Kraken oilfield begins generating revenues.

At the same time Enquest’s lending group are preparing to restructure its revolving credit facility of up to $1.7bn, its £155m retail notes and exchange its $650m high yield notes for new loans.

Restructuring lawyers at Ashurst, who are advising Enquest on the deal, said the plans are the largest and most complex European upstream oil company restructuring in recent years, involving senior debt, high yield bonds, retail notes and the simultaneous equity raise.

The radical overhaul comes after years of struggle for Enquest which was hurt by the oil price rout over the past two years, running up debt of $1.7bn as it continued spending through the downturn to develop the North Sea’s largest heavy oilfield project.

By the middle of next year Enquest faces a net debt position of $1.9bn compared to financing facilities of $2.1bn, meaning any cost overrun at Kraken could leave the explorer dangerously close to insolvency.

Rival North Sea explorer Premier Oil is also understood to be locked in talks with its lenders over a £2bn financial kickstart which was expected at the start of the month.

Premier is weighed down with £2.6bn of debt which was taken on to finance the development of two significant North Sea oil projects. Both are expected to reach their peak production rates by the end of next year.

Stephane Foucaud from FirstEnergy Capital said that although Enquest’s equity raise is small in comparison to the explorer’s growing debt pile, it should buy Enquest time to bring the project on stream.

The operator had previously banked on selling a 20pc stake in the project to Israel’s Delek Group in a deal valued at about $162m, but investor concerns were reignited after the talks fell apart last month.

Enquest chairman Jock Lennox said he is grateful to the lender group and remains confident in delivering the Kraken project as well as the company’s long-term business plan.

The company’s share price slid over 6pc on Thursday to 26p a share, down from 140p before the oil price plunge which began in summer 2014.

The Kraken project has already lost one developer after First Oil Expro fell into administration last year, requiring the already indebted Enquest and minority partner Cairn Energy to take on a greater stake in the project.