TOM Cross, chief executive of Parkmead Group, has said the oil and gas firm expects to maintain its rapid growth in the North Sea after bidding successfully for more acreage in the latest UK Licensing round.

Aberdeen-based Parkmead was provisionally awarded six new licences covering a total of nine offshore blocks in the 28th round. Three of the licences are close to the Perth, Dolphin and Lowlander fields, which Parkmead hopes to bring onstream, off northeast Scotland. The company has interests in 61 blocks in the UK and the Netherlands.