Alan Curran has become the new chief executive of Bridge Energy and will oversee a £300million UK offshore spending spree.
Mr Curran, who was formerly the chief operating officer of Iona Energy, starts his new job today.
Bridge, which was taken private in a £100million deal in November, will focus exclusively on assets in the UK Continental Shelf.
The exploration and production firm, which had been formed through the 2010 merger of Norwegian Bridge Energy and Silverstone Energy, is now backed by the £3billion Norwegian private equity firm, Hitecvision since its de-listing from the Olso Bors and AIM.
Mr Curran said: “After a career of over 30 years, this is the opportunity I have been waiting for. The opportunity to be part of effectively a relaunched business with very strong funding.
“The exciting attraction of the business is it has a core set of assets that are a building base. Over the next couple of years we are looking to put in excess of $500million (£300million) to work, initially building up more production in the business but over the next few years building into that development opportunities as well.”
The company’s chairman, Malcolm Thoms, is a former chief operating of Cairn Energy.
Mr Thoms said Mr Curran met the firm’s criteria for a new chief executive.
“He had the background we were looking for – someone who has done basic training with a major oil company. Particularly someone that is more senior who joined the oil industry in the 1970s or 80s. Alan’s background is with Shell. He also worked with Lundin, a very successful explorer in the North Sea. His experience is in the relevant geography.”
Mr Curran is also now overseeing a recruitment drive which will boost the company’s staff from eight to 25.
The company’s former chief executive Tom Reynolds left the business in November when it was acquired by Spike Exploration, owned by upstream-focused Hitecvision.
Earlier this week, Iona confirmed former Nexen UK senior executive Philip Oldham would act as Interim Chief Operating Officer until a replacement for Mr Curran was found.
The Calgary and Aberdeen-based explorer also said it had achieved a record £21million quarterly revenue, up from £1.1miilion on the first quarter last year thanks to production the Huntington field. Iona has a 15% stake in the Premier Oil operated field.
