Bank of Scotland to back EnQuest's bid for growth

BANK of Scotland is leading an £180 million funding package for oil and gas explorer EnQuest, the newly-listed oil and gas explorer that is expected to go on an acquisition spree.

The deal, which is the biggest in the oil and gas industry so far this year, involves Bank of Scotland pumping 100m into a revolving credit facility, with French bank BNP Paribas contributing a further 80m.

EnQuest was created using the de-merged assets of Petrofac's oil services business and Swedish exploration outfit Lundin Petroleum.

The firm became Scotland's latest listed company when it floated earlier this month and is listed on the FTSE 250 index.

EnQuest shares closed up 7.5p – or 7.7 per cent – on Friday, at 105p.

Andrew Moorfield, head of oil and gas at Lloyds Banking Group, which owns Bank of Scotland, told Scotland on Sunday that EnQuest has a "clear and strategic plan to grow the business".

Moorfield added: "EnQuest has a superb asset profile and is run by a very experienced management team."

The portfolio of assets includes the Broom, Deveron, Heather, Thistle, West Don and Don Southwest fields in the North Sea.

EnQuest is led by chairman James Buckee – who also sits on the board of Cairn Energy and was previously chief executive of Canada's Talisman Energy – and chief executive Amjad Bseisu, who has served on the board of Petrofac and was a founding director of Serica Energy and Stratic Energy Corporation.