Petrofac ups stake in oil firm Seven

ENERGY services group Petrofac is to invest up to $75 million (£46m) in Nigerian oil firm Seven Energy, taking its stake to some 24.5 per cent.

The group, chaired by veteran Scottish business leader Norman Murray, initially invested $100m into Seven in November.

Petrofac said the additional investment, unveiled yesterday, would assist Seven with the "further development of its existing and potential opportunities".

Since the initial injection of funding, the UK company has provided experienced personnel to assist with the delivery of the Nigerian firm's "key existing projects and continues to provide active engineering and procurement support".

Gordon East, Petrofac's managing director for production solutions, said: "We have worked closely with Seven Energy's team since we made our initial investment. This has increased our confidence in the value of their existing and potential portfolio of oil and gas assets.

"As the relationship with Seven progresses, we will continue to provide capability from across the Petrofac group to support their development activities, which in turn will drive value for the shareholders of both Petrofac and Seven Energy."

Murray, who joined Petrofac as a non-executive director in March and recently took up the chairman's role, is also chairman of Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy and a non-exec director of both Robert Wiseman Dairies in East Kilbride and Suffolk-based brewer Greene King.