Imperial makes its move to FTSE

IMPERIAL Energy, the Yorkshire-based energy company founded by Leeds lawyer Peter Levine, will continue its rapid rise by entering the FTSE 250 index tomorrow.

The move comes just six months after the company, which has its registered office in Leeds but its main area of operations in Western Siberia, moved from the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) to the main London Stock Exchange.

Since it floated in 2004, Imperial, which is involved in oil exploration and production in Siberia and Kazakhstan, has seen its shares increase from 108p to reach more than £15 earlier this month.

They currently stand at 1285p valuing the company at £669m.

The FTSE 250 is made up of mid-capitalised quotted firms that are not covered by the FTSE 100.

Imperial Energy is an upstream oil exploration and production company focused on the Commonwealth of Independent States and in particular, the Russian Federation.

Since it was founded, Imperial has expanded by acquisition and acquired exploration licences and exploration and production licences, principally in the Tomsk region of Western Siberia, Russia.

Mr Levine, who is also chairman of the Thirsk structural steel company Severfield-Rowen, co-founded the company.

The strategy that has driven its growth was to buy exploration sites rather than existing oil sites.

Imperial produces 2,000 barrels of oil per day from three fields near Tomsk in the south east basin of Western Siberia and has laid 208kms of pipeline under the ground to link its oil fields to Transneft, Russia's national oil artery.

Mr Levine has predicted that this move will boost production to 10,000 barrels per day by the end of the year and 25,000 barrels by the end of 2008.