The offer represented a 15 per cent premium over Enterprise's share price recorded last Thursday prior to the London market closing for the Easter break.

Last week, Italian oil and gas group, Agip Eni said it would pay a small premium for Enterprise Oil but was not interested in a hostile takeover. Enterprise rejected a takeover bid in January, which was rumoured to have been from Eni, which has bought two other independent UK oil companies, namely, British Borneo and Lasmo.