The North Sea’s struggle to overcome its multi-billion pound debt burden has been dealt a setback as hope for a recovery in oil prices begins to wither.

Experts cut their forecasts for the global oil market last week as the crude price slumped to 10-month lows, putting the market on course for the steepest first-half drop since the Nineties.

The reversal is a major concern for prominent North Sea drillers such as Enquest and Premier Oil, which may now face a much longer battle to reduce their debt pile. The pair were left with a combined debt burden of almost £5bn in the wake of the oil crash.

Kate Sloan, an analyst with Macquarie, warned that without higher prices the pair may struggle to overcome their high debt positions, potentially limiting reinvestment in the basin. She added that Enquest is likely to be the more successful in eroding its debt, while Premier could find itself unable to make material reinvestments to rebuild its equity position.