TOM Cross has said the Parkmead Group he runs is braced for the oil price to stay low but can still make plenty of money from North Sea acquisitions.
The oil and gas entrepreneur said Aberdeen-based Parkmead is eyeing 10 deals which could involve it shelling out up to $100 million (£65m) for the right asset.
Mr Cross, who grew Dana Petroleum into a £1.9 billion business, said Parkmead has its sights on six targets in the UK and four in the Netherlands. The list includes companies and individual assets.
Work on some of the potential deals is well advanced.
“They are all things that will stand the test of low oil price and make considerable gains as the oil price recovers,” said Mr Cross.
He added: “We would not buy anything where we would not make money at current prices.”
Following a week in which bosses at BP and Shell both highlighted the possibility the slump in oil prices may be prolonged, Mr Cross said Parkmead had made plans on the assumption that view was correct.
However, noting that the price rallied somewhat in the second quarter, he said Parkmead had also considered a more optimistic scenario. Global political developments could influence crude prices as well as supply and demand considerations.
Mr Cross is confident that Parkmead is well placed to capitalise on either outcome.
He has previously highlighted the fact the slump in the crude price since June last year has created opportunities to buy assets at much cheaper prices than during the boom.
In March he said the oil price fall would allow potential buyers to make “cheeky offers”.
Yesterday, Mr Cross noted: “You see companies that have got difficulties with expensive debt, bonds. We don’t have any of that. We are a clean, small, tightly run company.”
He believes the slump in the crude price since June last year will speed the process of transformation in the North Sea, which will see independents such as Parkmead playing an increasingly important role.
“In terms of the North Sea there’s obviously a changing of the guard. There are big companies with large infrastructure and older infrastructure which gives rise to high running costs ... but for Parkmead as a new company that’s just been operating a short while we can be much more selective,” said Mr Cross.
Shell bosses have made it clear they want to reduce the company’s exposure to mature fields in areas such as the Northern North Sea off Scotland.
While Mr Cross has masterminded six acquisitions since joining Parkmead in 2010 he stressed that the company’s strategic priorities also include organic growth.
Parkmead was awarded three more exploration licences in the latest UK round this week. These include two in what the company called the highly prospective West of Shetland area and one in the gas-rich Southern North Sea.
Mr Cross has gained plenty of knowledge of both areas in his time at Parkmead and before that at Dana.
He made around £60m when Dana was sold to Korea National Oil Corporation for £1.9bn in 2010.
While sector watchers are concerned about low levels of exploration activity in UK waters, Mr Cross noted a consequence of the downturn was that firms with resources in place could do much more work for less money than in the past.
“Budgets for individual wells are down to half of what they were six to twelve months ago,” he said.
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