Bowleven could be on course for another collision with the former chief executive who threatened to destroy the oil and gas firm after confirming it is considering moving into Angola this year.
Bowleven could be on course for another collision with the former chief executive who threatened to destroy the oil and gas firm after confirming it is considering moving into Angola this year.
Edinburgh-based Bow-Leven said it may bid for acreage in the forthcoming licensing round in the west African state. Such a move could put the firm into competition with Philip Rhind, with whom it parted company amid bitter acrimony in 2006.
After South African Rhind was dismissed for alleged gross misconduct in February 2006, a court heard he had claimed to have a red button that he would press to destroy the firm if he was sacked.
Dismissing all allegations of wrongdoing, Rhind claimed to have been made a scapegoat for drilling reverses by an old regime led by the then executive chairman Terry Heneaghan.
Having kept a low profile in the wake of the dispute, Rhind is now one of the directors of an Angolan oil and gas firm, Lussadisa. This is based in the capital of the former Portuguese colony Luanda.
The company is chaired by a former security minister of Angola, general Manuel Alexandre Duarte Rodrigues, who is also known as Kito.
A very well-placed source said the firm had "extremely powerful individuals" among its backers.
The company has interests in Angola and the Congo and is mulling a big acquisition offshore west Africa.
It intends to bid for both onshore and offshore acre-age in the coming Angolan licensing round.
With the majority of shares held by Angolan nationals, the firm might hope to have an edge over bidders for licences that are controlled by overseas firms.
As a series of massive finds have been made offshore Angola competition for licenses will be intense.
Kevin Hart, who became chief executive of Cameroon-focused BowLeven following Rhind's dismissal, expressed an interest in taking the firm into Angola last November. On Tuesday the firm confirmed this was still a live issue.
In an operational update to investors in the AIM-listed firm, BowLeven said: "The group's strategy is to collaborate with indigenous com-panies in its geographic areas of focus and it currently has the potential for such an opportunity in connec-tion with onshore blocks in the forthcoming Angolan licensing round."
As a result, Rhind and new management at BowLeven could find that their paths cross as they attempt to win the ear of officials who will decide who gets the chance to explore in new areas of Angola.
A source close to Lussadisa said it had no interest in working with BowLeven. However, Rhind was not concerned if BowLeven wanted to work in Angola.
Soon after his dismissal, Rhind submitted a 54-page dossier detailing concerns about the management of BowLeven. A spokesman for BowLeven said the document was defamatory and large parts of it were simply groundless. It was not fit to be published.
In November 2006 it emerged that Rhind had received a payment from BowLeven in an out-of-court settlement. While Rhind had been seeking a £3m pay-off, the company said at the time that the payment was not material.
Since Hart took charge BowLeven has drilled three successful wells off Cameroon.
On Tuesday the firm said it could recover between 23 million and 75 million barrels of oil from a recent find, sending shares up 5% to 266.75p. However, yesterday shares closed down 7.4%, or 19.75p, at 247p.
