Plunge in Aim's Scottish oil and gas sector shares

The value of Scotland's smaller energy companies quoted on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) slumped by nearly a third in 2015 amid sliding oil prices.

The oil downturn has hit Scottish aim-quoted energy stocks. Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

Five Scottish energy companies are on Aim, and their value fell to £265.8 million last year from £387.6m in 2014, notes a new report from business adviser BDO.

Entitled “Drilling down 2016: a review of the performance of Aim listed oil and gas companies in 2015”, the report found that the market capitalisation of the UK oil and gas sector quoted on the smaller market slumped 40.8 per cent to £2.9 billion last year from £4.9bn in 2014.

The largest drop in market cap among the Scottish companies was SeaEnergy, which fell 81 per cent during the year. Best performer was Faroe Petroleum, down 12.5 per cent.

Neil McGill, corporate finance director with BDO, said it “is clear the oil and gas market is going to remain ­volatile and uncertain for the next 12 months and perhaps longer”.