UPDATES from Serica Energy and Jersey Oil and Gas and news of an appointment to the board of Oil & Gas UK yesterday underlined the growing importance of smaller players in the North Sea.

Serica is investing in maximising production from the kind of mature field that giants such as BP have decided no longer meet their investment criteria.

Jersey is stepping up an exploration campaign which has already resulted in the company making a big find in the Moray Firth after persuading Statoil to buy in to the licence concerned.

Oil & Gas UK recruited Azinor Catalyst boss Nick Terrell in response to the influx of independent operators now active in the UK North Sea.

The industry body hopes such independents will invest heavily in assets majors may have lost interest in.

But Serica’s experience shows independents can’t expect growth will be easy to achieve in an area containing lots of ageing production facilities.

The company is laying a section of pipeline to bypass a blockage that could mean the Erskine field is offline for around nine months.

The rise in the crude price since late 2016 may encourage investors to risk the long term investment required to be able to cope with such complications. It may also result in the costs of services increasing in a way that could frighten some people off.