Tiddlers swimming into North Sea

IT'S the nearest modern Britain may come to the great Yukon gold rush. Some 30bn barrels of oil still lie below the North Sea - as much as has been brought to the surface in three decades of production - but it is in pockets too small to be of much interest to the supermajors.

With the likes of BP and Shell migrating to big new pastures such as Russia and West Africa, a growing group of small prospectors is moving in with the hope of striking it rich in an area that could yet yield some sizeable finds.

Record numbers of start-up companies are expected to bid for Government Promote licences this spring and take advantage of a Department of Trade and Industry scheme to give budding geologists two years to find enough evidence of oil to attract bigger companies to fund a drilling programme.

Among those that have already done so is Reach Exploration, a husband-and-wife company in Aberdeen that first spotted the Criollo prospect on seismic data two years ago. It is now being drilled by Premier Oil.

Miles Newman, Reach's exploration director, said more overseas firms are now looking to enlist Promote firms' expertise.

'It takes time to understand the geology of the North Sea, to compete for a licence and prepare to drill. We can cut a newcomer's time frame by two to three years,' he said. 'With the current oil price of $30 a barrel, it's actually cheaper to explore and find oil than acquire assets.'

Promote licences, which came into being last year following Reach's success, offer companies a shorter and cheaper alternative to the usual four-year, £35,000 exploration licence.

Among the new licensees are Richard Morton and Martin Whitbread. They liked the Marquis of Granby pub in Covent Garden so much they named their company after it.

Granby Enterprises is just one of a growing pack of scavengers hoping to make millions from what's left of Britain's oil, which could now also be struck by Wimbledon Oil & Gas, Oxfordshire's Roundstone Exploration or Clapham's Wham.

Morton, Granby's co-chief executive, said: 'All the big companies are leaving the North Sea and there is now a niche there to be exploited. It's all about companies like us having a chance to find what has been missed.'