Reservoir Group’s Global Ambitions Enhanced
by Top place in UK Rankings

Reservoir Group, a newly formed UK business, head-quartered in Aberdeenshire, is set to become a global market leader in integrated downhole drilling products and services with projected turnover of £250 million in five years.

The group, backed by Houston private equity firm SCF Partners, burst onto the oil and gas scene with the £20 million acquisition of Aberdeen-based Corpro last year.

Corpro specialises in extracting "cores" — samples of rock — and bringing them to the surface. Geologists then analyse the cores to help oil and gas operators, including BP, Total and Chevron, pinpoint the location of reserves and work out how best to exploit them.

At a high profile London dinner last night, the company received its award for achieving the top spot in the UK in the 2008 Sunday Times Buyout Track 100 rankings, sponsored by Deloitte.

Generating an impressive profit growth of 122% a year, Corpro will provide the bedrock for the foundations on which Reservoir Group will build a global business focused on “down-hole” drilling products and services.

Reservoir Group aims to reach its five year target through organic growth and further acquisitions of niche, independent market-leading companies to create an internationally-focused market leader.

The group is being led by Pascal Bartette, formerly managing director of Corpro. He said: “The aim is to acquire complementary businesses with drilling-related activities to create a group of companies that offer integrated, specialist services to the down-hole drilling market. We are targeting independent market leaders within their niche sectors that provide good product differentiation. Through this critical mass we will generate global reach and synergies within the group allowing these companies to realise their full growth potential more quickly and effectively.”

Corpro has achieved significant and rapid growth, buoyed by high oil and gas prices and an increase in exploration of sites that were considered marginal before oil prices shot up.

Mr Bartette added: “Heavy investment in new technology has enabled Corpro to extract bigger, more complete core samples. The equipment the industry uses has changed little in the past 30 years, and being part of the Reservoir Group will allow us to continue to invest in new techniques that give us an edge in the market.”

Corpro is active in most major oilfields around the world, and has worked in 50 countries in the past 18 months. The Middle East accounted for more than half of its turnover in 2006. The company also does significant business in Africa, the Far East, Europe, the Caspian region and South America.

With Corpro providing the platform for growth, Reservoir Group is already looking at further acquisitions in the areas of coring, drilling tools, drilling motors and turbines and casing tools. The group’s head office will remain in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.