AN oil and gas tycoon has cemented his position as one of Scotland's richest men after making about £270 million from the sale of his business empire.

Steven Ferguson is thought to be the 50th wealthiest person north of the Border after establishing his Ferguson Group container business on the back of the discovery of oil in the North Sea in the 1970s.

The Monaco-based businessman is expected to rise further up the table following the sale of his Aberdeenshire-based firm to an Australian company worth several billion dollars.

The deal saw Brambles Limited purchase Ferguson Group for £320m in one of the biggest oil and gas services deals in Scotland in recent years.

The Scottish company is an international giant with operations spanning the globe. The deal is thought to include £54m of debt, leaving Mr Ferguson with around £266m from the sale.

Mr Ferguson, an economics graduate, said he decided to sell the firm to a buyer with deep enough pockets to fund the investment needed to keep pace with demand for the kit the firm makes.

He said: "The Ferguson Group has grown very significantly in recent years and it was becoming clear that in order to maintain this momentum in the current market, new sources of finance and access to skills was required."

Mr Ferguson, 54, whose address is listed on Companies House as Avenue Des Guelfes in Monaco, founded Ferguson Seacabs in 1976. The first oil field in the UK North Sea, Argyll, came onstream in 1975.

The company has 18,000 cargo containers that are used to transport goods offshore and specialist units used in areas like waste management. It has around 300 office and accommodation units for use on rigs and other offshore assets.

Ferguson designs and makes the accommodation units in Inverurie where it employs more than 60 people.

It generated £65m revenues last year and made a profit of £21m before tax. Ferguson does 70 per cent of its business in the North Sea. The deal reflects strong interest among overseas firms and investors in Scottish oil services firms at a time when oil and gas firms are ramping up activity around the world to meet buoyant demand for energy.

There have been a series of deals involving Scottish firms that have built successful operations overseas amid strong interest in expertise developed in the North Sea, where business is booming.

Ferguson has operations in Norway, Singapore, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.

A recent study by accountancy giant Ernst & Young found companies in the UK's oil and gas services industry generate £35bn total revenues a year with the value set to increase given strong investment in the North Sea.

Around half the 1,600 oil and gas services businesses the accountancy firm found in the UK were Scotland-based.

Around 81,000 people work in high-value jobs and oil services jobs in Scotland in areas from seismic surveying to drilling.

Brambles chief executive Tom Gorman said Ferguson Group was a very strong fit for Brambles and would provide a platform for it to expand in the oil and gas industry.

He noted that Ferguson has been growing sales by more than 10 per cent a year since 2009 and has a "compelling" growth outlook.

Brambles said Mr Ferguson will remain as a senior advisor for six months after the deal to "assist with transition matters".

Brambles said the remainder of Ferguson Group's key management team will continue to run the business as part of the Brambles Group.

The oil and gas industry is well represented on the rich list, with Sir Ian Wood family's thought to be one of the richest business families in Scotland.

Sir Ian, who has since retired, developed the Wood Group out of the family fishing firm and the family has a £201million stake in it.