THE Parkmead Group run by Tom Cross is celebrating success in the North Sea after making a discovery with a well it drilled alongside the Dana Petroleum business he developed.
Mr Cross took charge at Parkmead soon after the £1.9 billion hostile takeover of Dana Petroleum by Korea National Oil Corporation late in 2010.
The two companies have found gas with the Pharos well, drilled on acreage Mr Cross knew at Dana. Parkmead bought into the licence in the southern North Sea in 2011.
Neither company gave an estimate of the amount of gas Pharos, 95 miles north west of Great Yarmouth, might hold.
However, Parkmead noted the chances of the find being commercial were boosted by the fact it might be possible to develop it with its existing Platypus discovery nearby.
Mr Cross said: "This success could add significant further value to the Platypus gas field, strengthening Parkmead's position in the UK Southern Gas Basin."
Last week the oil and gas entrepreneur said Parkmead Group was eyeing a return to the acquisition trail after using a series of deals to build a business he believes can achieve rapid growth.
Paul Griffin, Dana's UK managing director said Pharos is well located to take advantage of a number of gas export options.
He added: "This is the fifth North Sea exploration and appraisal well that Dana has drilled as Operator or in partnership during 2013."
Dana has a 35% interest in the Pharos licence; Parkmead has 20%; Hansa Hydrocarbons, Dyas Exploration UK and MPX North Sea have 15% each.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article