Norwegian investment firm HitecVision has agreed to invest up to about £150million in a new oil and gas exploration outfit.
It has backed Spike Exploration, based in Stavanger, a start-up oil and gas company focusing on the North Sea – both off Norway and the UK.
Spike aims to build a portfolio of opportunities through farm-ins to existing licenses and awards of new acreage in official licensing rounds.
The business is being led by chief executive Bjørn Inge Tønnessen, former head of Svenska Petroleum in Norway. He has also worked six years as an exploration and production analyst – mainly for DNB Investment Banking.
David Poole is the firm’s exploration manager and deputy chief executive. He was previously exploration manager of Talisman Europe and North Africa and has worked at Exxon and Statoil in Norway and other international locations.
Also from Talisman is chief geologist Tor Arne Hansen, who has also recently worked at Skeie Energy.
Project evaluation manager Walter Sognness was involved in the start-up and development of Revus Energy, whose management team is now running another private equity backed firm, Agora Oil and Gas, recently bought by Cairn Energy.
Chief finance officer Harald Grøsfjeld was previously head of financing and treasury at Seadrill.
HitecVision said Spike would be looking to expand its exploration team with two to three senior geoscientists with a track record in Norway and the UK.
HitecVision is behind fast-growing subsea installation firm Ocean Installer, which recently took a 10-year lease on offices in Aberdeen.