Pumped up by the news from Iraq (From Bournemouth Echo)

Pumped up by the news from Iraq

9:30am Friday 9th January 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(4)

PUMPING profits back into the company has enabled a small family-owned Bournemouth oil and gas exploration specialist to become an international player without having to become a public limited company.

Midmar Energy, which is based in Dean Park Crescent, produces 3,000 barrels of crude a month across its three oil wells in two fields across the south of England.

“We are modest compared to BP, which pumps over four million barrels a day. BP’s Wytch Farm at Purbeck, the largest onshore oil field in western Europe, pumps 20,000 barrels a day,” said Thomas Redman, managing director of Midmar.

Midmar, which supplies its oil to BP at Hamble, near Southampton now has a foothold in Iraq through its joint venture with associate company, Mesopotamia Petroleum Company (MPC).

Peter Redman, founder and chairman of Midmar, said: “We will sign the agreement with MPC in the coming weeks.”

The deal will enable the business to have a number of rigs in Iraq and will help optimise oil production in the war-torn country.

Wells can be drilled as deep as 4,000 metres in the Middle East compared with between 600 and 1,200 metres on Britain’s south coast.

“I hope we will have a lot of Bournemouth men and women working in that area,” said Mr Redman.

“This project does change our company. We are now looking at other opportunities around the globe because of this,” he added.

The company undertakes full risk assessments to ensure staff safety and his firm’s progress in Iraq will ultimately fuel expansion in Bournemouth, where it relocated from Aberdeen five years ago.

Each oil drilling project costs over £2 million in terms of planning and execution and last year the small Bournemouth company, which employs 14 staff undertook four projects. It intends to improve on that this year.

While the company is small it has experienced increased turnover and profit each year and has quietly been winning oil drilling licences across the south of England. It is working towards its ISO14001 accreditation, which commits the company to exacting environmental practises.

Midmar’s progress is in direct contrast to some industry peers. This week Oilexco Incorporated, the oil and gas exploration company listed on the London and the Toronto stock exchanges has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Oilexco North Sea Limited has filed for bankruptcy, which analysts say paints a bleak future for other oil and gas exploration companies.