North Sea veteran to lead nuclear clean-up

NORTH Sea-focused Independent Oil and Gas has said its chairman David Peattie is leaving to focus on his new job as chief executive of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

The oil and gas veteran was named yesterday as the new head of the NDA, which oversees the clean-up of closed nuclear facilities such as the Dounreay plant in Caithness.

Independent’s chief executive Mark Routh said Mr Peattie had been instrumental in the progress achieved by the firm since he joined its board in July.

Mr Peattie noted Londonbased Independent had achieved a 10-fold increase in its potential resource base to more than 490 billion cubic feet helped by acquisitions in recent months. The company has Field Development Plans scheduled for submission.

Aim-listed Independent said it has made substantial progress towards completing the acquisition of the disused Southern North Sea pipeline.

The company announced in January it had agreed to acquire the pipeline at nominal cost, in a move that would improve the economics of its fields in the area.

Mr Routh said of Mr Peattie: “While I am personally sorry to lose him, I take great comfort from IOG’s ability to attract someone of David’s calibre to be our chairman.”

The petroleum engineer joined Independent after holding senior roles with BP and running Fairfield Energy. The NDA noted he had a strong track record in tackling complex commercial and engineering challenges to work at the organisation.

He will leave Independent on May 31, or sooner if a replacement is appointed.