Aberdeen oil and gas explorer Parkmead Group announced a new discovery yesterday.
It said it had found a new gas field in the Netherlands which it expects will feed into existing production infrastructure in the area.
The Diever-2 exploration well is in the Diever West prospect, which forms part of the onshore Drenthe IIIb production licence.
Parkmead – led by north-east businessman Tom Cross – is one of four partners in the licence, alongside Canada’s Vermilion Energy and Dutch firms NAM and EBN.
Diever-2 was drilled by Vermilion, the operator, with DrillTec’s Explorer TB2100S rig.
Parkmead said the well reached a depth of 7,457 feet and gas was discovered in a good quality sandstone reservoir.
The firm added: “The well discovered a significant 157 feet gas column, with both net pay and porosity values that have exceeded pre-drill expectations.
“Vermilion will set production casing in the well prior to testing and it is expected that Diever West will be tied into existing production facilities in the area.”
Mr Cross, who was chief executive of Aberdeen firm Dana Petroleum around the time of its £1.67billion buyout by South Korea’s national oil company in 2010, added: “This new field provides an excellent, additional near-term production opportunity.”
Parkmead also announced it had started a site survey at its Skerryvore offshore oil prospect in the UK North Sea in advance of drilling in 2015.
Mr Cross said: “Exploratory work is already underway at the exciting Skerryvore oil target.
“Skerryvore has the potential to add major value to Parkmead’s growing asset base”.
Parkmead has gone from having no oil and gas assets at all in November 2011 to a growing presence in the North Sea.
The company reported its first profits earlier this year after seeing its asset base double inside a year.
Parkmead said it made first half pre-tax profits of £3.1million, compared with losses of £2.7million a year earlier, after snapping up assets on the UK continental shelf (UKCS).
It ended up with a 30% stake in the Athena field after its £14.5million takeover of North Sea oil firm Lochard Energy and a separate stake purchase from Germany’s EWE Vertrieb.
The firm also picked up five new licences last year, bringing its interests across the UKCS to 30 prospects.
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