OILEXCO, the ailing North Sea oil producer, has been put up for sale just two weeks after it was forced to scrap a disastrous effort to raise fresh capital.

Morgan Stanley has opened a data room for prospective bidders and has already received interest from larger rivals BG Group, Talisman Energy and Petro-Canada. Maersk, the Danish shipping giant, is also mulling a bid.

Oilexco hired Morgan Stanley last month to help it find sources of funding. This came after it cancelled a $180m (£123m) bond and share issue the day after publishing a prospectus because it was poorly received by investors.

The decision to look for a buyer is a stunning reversal for a group that was once a darling of the sector.

This summer Oilexco was worth more than $2.5 billion. The company has since lost more than 90% of its value as attempts to refinance debt with a syndicate of banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland have faltered. RBS agreed a 10-month repayment extension for £70m of a £100m loan due next month, but talks are continuing on the remaining £30m.

Morgan Stanley is running the sale alongside efforts to find fresh finance, possibly in the form of mezzanine debt and alternative sources of capital.

Oilexco has been caught out by a dwindling cash pile, a large cost base and a heavy reliance on the capital markets to fund an aggressive drilling programme. It needs to make nearly $600m in debt and rig-contract payments in the next year alone, according to company filings. The oil price, meanwhile, continues to plumb new lows, hitting $39.57 last Friday.

Sources expect it to be forced into a sale or the disposal of prize assets like the Huntington field, one of the most significant North Sea discoveries in recent years.

“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.”

The activity around Oilexco is part of a long-predicted wave of deals in the sector that is beginning to materialise.

China’s state-owned chemical company is nearing a deal to buy most of the assets of London-listed Soco International in a deal worth up to £900m.

Sinochem, which made an approach to Soco in October, has lined up financing from BNP Paribas to support a possible deal. Although advisers have discussed a takeover of the whole company, the Chinese giant’s main interest lies in the firm’s Vietnamese acreage, where it has 500m barrels of recoverable reserves.

Meanwhile, British fund manager Ashmore Group has paid $524m for a 40% stake in the Philippines’ largest oil refiner, Petron.

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