The UK North Sea oil and gas entrepreneur at the helm of Parkmead Group, Tom Cross, has confirmed key projects for the energy firm were making “significant” progress.
These include the Greater Perth Area (GPA) development in the central North Sea and the Platypus gas project in the southern sector.
Mr Cross said Parkmead had a “proven way to get oil from Perth to the market” and he hoped to have a field development plan (FDP) submitted to the industry regulator later this year.
Speaking from his Aberdeen home after Granite City-based Parkmead posted first-half results, Mr Cross said a tie-back of GPA to the nearby Scott facilities, operated by CNOOC, and export via the Forties pipeline was a “complete technical solution” for a project targeting up to 130 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), in “probable” resource terms.
Parkmead is also looking at ways to “sweep up” other pools of oil in the area, Mr Cross added.
The company submitted its FDP for Playtypus last October, hoping for project sanction by July and start-up for an estimated 4,600 boe per day next year.
But Covid-19 has forced the Oil and Gas Authority to prioritise its workload and the Platypus timetable is likely to slip.
He said Parkmead was operationally profitable during the six months to December 31, but a £1.3m write-down linked to the disposal of non-core acreage pushed statutory earnings into the red. Pre-tax losses came in at £1.4m, against profits of £3.8m a year ago, while lower gas prices drove a near 60% drop in revenue to £2.1m.