Northern Petroleum

Northern Petroleum’s 45%-owned Geesbrug gas field in Holland has started production at an initial 7.4m cubic feet a day.

The AIM-quoted company, headed by entrepreneurial Derek Musgrove, says it expects to be able to increase production ‘significantly’ from its existing well at Geesbrug and potentially drill several further wells there. That would lift reserves from a presently estimated 165bn proven and 142bn probable cubic feet of gas, with Northern’s share amounting to 137bn proven and probable cubic feet of gas.

Until the planned production increase from Geesbrug, Northern says its share of combined gas output from there and from its recently commissioned Grolloo field will be 6.7m cubic feet a day. Geesbrug is the second of four gas and two oil fields in the company’s onshore development programme in the Netherlands.

Northern has stakes in UK producing fields at Horndean in Sussex and Avington in Hampshire, with plans for expansion. The company sees most potential promise in Italy, where it is involved in the Po Valley and with Shell in offshore Sicily.

Highlighted by Growth Company Investor at 127p in May, Northern’s shares, which have traded between 63p and 163p over the past year, now stand at 142.75p. They should go further over the medium term.