The boss of Abu Dhabi national energy company TAQA said yesterday that its strategic plan remained unaffected by recent events in financial markets.
TAQA is in the process of a major expansion in the Aberdeen area, and will also shortly take control of a package of Shell/ExxonMobil assets in the UK North Sea.
The north-east workforce is currently around 90, but TAQA recently moved into a new UK base at Arnhall Business Park, Westhill, which has the capacity to house more than 300 people.
In July, the company said it had agreed to buy North Sea assets from Shell and ExxonMobil, including four platforms.
No value has been put on the deal for the interests in the Tern, Kestrel, Eider, Pelican, Otter, Hudson, Cormorant North and Cormorant South fields plus related infrastructure.
About 130 Shell staff work on the platforms, plus about 500 contractor employees.
Most of the Shell people are expected to transfer to TAQA, while there will be no adverse impact on contractor employee numbers.
TAQA was founded in 2005 and is a global energy company with a growing asset base of £14billion and about 2,800 employees.
Chief executive Peter Barker-Homek said yesterday: “The past quarter has seen TAQA consolidating its position across its core target markets, while continuing to monitor global opportunities for further acquisitions.
“As I look forward into 2009, we are well financed. Equipped with extensive available credit facilities, we do not have any short-term refinancing needs.
“As a result, our strategic plan remains unaffected by recent events in financial markets and we continue to build a strong operational track record of which I am immensely proud.”
Valiant Petroleum said yesterday that, despite uncertainty created from the recent turmoil in the global financial markets, it strongly believed it was well positioned to deliver long-term value growth through a combination of near-term cash flow, lower-risk exploration and targeted acquisitions.
It added: “The core focus of the company continues to be achieving first production from the Don fields (in the UK northern North Sea) on budget in early 2009, which will solidify an important building block in the company’s future growth plans.”
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