Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has been set a deadline of July 13 either to bid for Venture Production, the North Sea oil and gas company in which it holds a 23.6 per cent stake, or be prevented from bidding for six months.

The Takeover Panel on Wednesday issued the “put up or shut up” order following a request from Venture, which argued it was “in the interests of the company and its shareholders that this period of protracted uncertainty is brought to an end”.