12 Apr 2010 06:52 ET
* CEO says market is "full of opportunity" * Says market less competitive for oil assets than for gas * Shares up 4.9 pct By Sarah Young LONDON, April 12 (Reuters) - Explorer Ithaca Energy said it was bidding for further North Sea oil assets as it seeks to expand its portfolio in a buyers' market. "The market is full of opportunity at the moment. There's an awful lot of things for sale, a lot of things coming up for sale," said chief executive Iain McKendrick in an interview with Reuters. McKendrick said the Canada-based company, which is focused on exploration and development in the North Sea, was looking to buy assets with two or three partners to enable it to make a larger acquisition than would otherwise be possible. "The best acquisition for Ithaca would be something that has production, something that is mid-life, not end of life, and something that has development potential around the asset," McKendrick said. He said competition to buy the oil-producing assets that Ithaca would prefer was less fierce than for natural gas-producing assets, which have recently attracted the attention of utility companies. Scottish & Southern Energy agreed to buy the North Sea gas and infrastructure assets of U.S. energy firm Hess Ltd earlier in April, for example. [ID:nLDE6300BQ] Ithaca is currently awaiting the results from an appraisal well on its Stella block in the Central North Sea, which could see its 'proved plus probable' reserves rise. McKendrick said he was expecting the results for Stella later this week or early next week. Ithaca on Monday posted net profit for 2009 of $7.9 million on revenues of $110.8 million, boosting its shares by 4.9 percent to 146.5 pence at 1006 GMT and valuing the company at 237.8 million pounds ($363.6 million). (Reporting by Sarah Young, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) ($1=.6539 Pound) ((sarah.young@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 7717; Reuters Messaging: sarah.young.thomsonreuters@reuters.net) |