WHILE times have been tough in the UK North Sea Serica Energy has come a long way after investing heavily in the area amid the fall out from the crude price plunge.

London-based Serica focused on potentially transformational exploration in countries such as Namibia before buying a stake in the producing Erskine field in the North Sea in June 2014, at what proved to be the peak of the cycle.

Read more: North Sea oil firm hails transformational acquisitions

The oil price went on to plunge from $115 per barrel to less than $30/bbl early in 2016. Serica carried on buying in the North Sea in the belief the resulting downturn created opportunities to acquire assets at attractive prices.

With majors keen to release funds tied up in mature fields to invest in racier prospects it found no shortage of sellers.The company yesterday clinched its third acquisition in the space of three months.

The deals are expected to allow the firm to increase its reserve base from around 3 million barrels oil equivalent to 62.7m barrels with production set to rise from less than 3,000 barrels oil equivalent daily to around24,000 boed.

With Brent crude trading at around $74/bbl, Serica can expect to achieve good profits on its output.

However, the three deals will involve an initial outlay of less than £20 million.

As shares in Serica sold for 128p yesterday compared with 10.2p in May 2014, some investors who showed faith in the growth push may be sitting on big gains.

Industry watchers will hope Serica will be able to use its increased scale to play a part in the rejuvenation of the North Sea while inspiring others in the process.