Serica Energy has confirmed that it will open a substantial base in Aberdeen this summer as it expands before completing a deal to buy BP’s stakes in three North Sea fields.
It said that the agreement to acquire interests in the Bruce, Keith and Rhum fields was on course to be approved in the third quarter of the year. Net production from the acreage was said to have been running at about 20,000 barrels of oil a day since the Forties pipeline fully reopened this month.
Serica, which was formed in 2000 and was floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 2005, is one of several smaller players acquiring assets on the UK continental shelf as they see value in operating older fields that no longer interest the big companies.
Yesterday it confirmed that drilling work on the Rhum field would be done to help to increase production rates. On the Rowallan prospect, there are plans for an exploration well to be drilled in the second half of the year.
A development plan for the Columbus gasfield, where Serica has a 50 per cent stake and is the operator, is expected to be submitted this year, with the possibility that production could start next year.
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The company is also looking for partners to share exploration costs on licences it holds in Ireland and Namibia.
Mitch Flegg, chief executive, said that the company had $34 million of cash available and was fully funded for all its present requirements.
The office in Aberdeen will include dozens of operational staff, who will move over as part of the BP deal, as well as new people that Serica plans to hire.