The chief executive of Aberdeen-based oil and gas company Fairfield Energy has resigned.
Mark McAllister’s move follows a strategic review after the company postponed plans for a £700million-plus stock-market listing last July. Weak markets had spooked potential investors.
Fairfield, which employs about 50 staff, was established in 2005 to focus on the UK North Sea with a strategy of acquiring and developing mature producing assets with significant upside potential and development and redevelopment of assets in need of technical focus and capital.
When it announced its intention to list, Fairfield – which is controlled by private-equity companies led by Warburg Pincus – said most of the money raised would be used to boost production from oil fields acquired in 2008 from Shell and other redevelopment projects.
The Aberdeen oil firm said yesterday it had completed an in-depth strategic review, resulting in the development of a focused and robust business plan. Fairfield added that its shareholders had agreed in principle that up to an additional £96million would be injected to realise the potential value of its asset base and to position it for future growth.
Fairfield said that, to ensure it had the appropriate and broad skill set to fully capture its significant upside, it had made changes to its board and executive team.
Ron Emerson, formerly senior independent director, has become chairman, with ex-chairman Chris Wright now chief executive.
Chief operating officer Ian Sharp has been appointed to the board of directors, while Iain Macdonald continues as an executive director and chief financial officer.
Mr McAllister will leave the board, however, Fairfield said that, given his pivotal involvement in its development, he would remain as an adviser on decommissioning issues.
Mr Emerson said: “Thanks to the continuing support of our shareholders, who recognise the strength of our business and its clear potential, we also now have the appropriate balance sheet.
“With a number of changes at board level, we are also ensuring that we have the right team in place to execute this next stage of the plan. On behalf of everyone at Fairfield, I would like to thank Mark McAllister for his unswerving commitment to the business and hard work over the last five years.
“He has played a critical role in making Fairfield what it is today and we look forward to his ongoing contribution to the company, and to the industry in general.”
A spokesman for Fairfield said that, while a stock-market listing was off the agenda in the near term, it was still a possibility in future.