Tuskar Resources, the oil exploration company, was wound up by the High Court yesterday after it was told the company's directors were neither consenting nor objecting to the application.

The winding-up petition was brought by Mr John Gordon SC on behalf of Green Sea, of Oslo, Norway, which claimed to be owed $11.3 million (#12.3 million) arising out of Green Sea's provision of a specialised testing and production vessel to enable the production and delivery of crude oil from the Obe offshore field in Nigeria. On Monday, Mr Justice Brian McCracken withdrew the court's protection from the company when he refused to appoint an examiner. He said he was not satisfied there was a reasonable prospect of the company surviving as a going concern. Tuskar had claimed it was having cash-flow problems as a result of a dispute with its Nigerian partners.