Hardy Oil British-Borneo Set To Merger

The British-Borneo Petroleum Syndicate Plc and Hardy Oil and Gas Plc will merge to form the third largest independent exploration and production company in the UK.

The merged company will be called British-Borneo Oil and Gas Plc and will have a market capitalisation of around 910 million pounds.

British-Borneo is an exploration and production company with established businesses in the Gulf of Mexico, the US, the deep water Atlantic margin and the North Sea. It is also showing interest in West Africa and Brazil.

Hardy Oil and Gas Plc has established interests in the UK, Australia, India and Pakistan.

British-Borneo's strategy has been based on the innovative use of technology to gain access to deep water exploration and development opportunities. Hardy sees considerable upside in the development of new technologies and has recently announced plans to use the exclusive AlphaPrime sub-sea oil and gas processing technology to access opportunities for low-cost development.

 

In India, Hardy operates in three blocks _ two in the Cauvery Basin and one in the Cambay Basin.

Commenting on the merger, R A Bryans, general manager of Hardy, said, "It is clearly a positive move and will help bring further technology to our future developments in India."

"Hardy has invested considerably in the country. With the merger we expect to acquire additional strengths in deepwater developments and be a significant player in the Indian upstream sector," said Ashu Sagar, vice-president of Hardy India.