Parkmead doubles stake in North Sea oil fields

Oil and gas explorer Parkmead has taken full control of the Marten and Polecat fields in the central North Sea after doubling its stake in the licence.

Parkmead said the fields could be 'highly valuable'. Picture: Contributed

The Aberdeen-based firm, led by executive chairman Tom Cross, previously held a 50 per cent interest in the blocks following the 28th round of licensing awards in 2014, alongside partner Atlantic Petroleum.

Marten and Polecat are estimated to contain more than 90 million barrels of oil in place between them and 33 million barrels of contingent resources – those deemed potentially recoverable, but not yet considered mature enough for commercial development.

They lie about 12 miles east of the Buzzard field, close to Parkmead’s Perth-Dolphin-Lowlander (PDL) hub project in the Moray Firth. Taking full control of the fields has seen Parkmead’s total contingent resources swell by 39 per cent to 59.1 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Cross said: “Polecat and Marten could be highly valuable to Parkmead’s PDL project by contributing an additional 90 million barrels of oil in place to the already large oil and gas reserves base at PDL.”

He also hailed the “continued outperformance” at Parkmead’s onshore Diever West gas field in the Netherlands, which average gross production of 34 million cubic feet per day last month.

“Parkmead is working intensively to evaluate and execute further value-adding opportunities in its core areas of the UK and Netherlands,” Cross added.

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