Clipped wings at Nighthawk

Nighthawk, the US-focused oil development and production company, has been unable to proceed with its planned acquisition of Running Foxes Petroleum.The firm had planned to acquire both its working interest and the operatorship of the Jolly Ranch project, but said market conditions prevented the move from being completed.In a statement the company said: "The company has undertaken a significant number of meetings with institutional investors to evaluate the potential funding available for the transaction and for a new work program at Jolly Ranch involving workovers of existing wells and new wells. "Investor feedback on the company's strategy has been largely positive, but the current overall market conditions have determined that the acquisition cannot be executed."The group now plans to push ahead with a new programme at Jolly Ranch, improving existing wells and drilling a number of new ones, with work set to begin in early 2012. The company is in discussions with Running Foxes over this program, which may involve Nighthawk taking on increased responsibility for the work program and providing the funding.To fund the move, the directors are planning equity fund raising of around €5m. The share price fell 12.78% to 2.9p by 11:09.NR