EnQuest boss increases interest

EnQuest chief executive Amjad Bseisu has been adding to his interests in the oil and gas explorer and producer.

A discretionary trust called Double A bought just over 3.2m shares at 96.13p each and then a further 2.83m shares on Nasdaq IMX Stockholm at the equivalent of 96.35p a share. Together these purchases cost £5.8m.

More than £7.5m has been spent on EnQuest shares by trusts and connected companies of Amjad Bseisu in the past six weeks. That is around 1% of the company. The combined stake is just over 4%.

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The company's demotion to the FTSE 250 index has provided a buying opportunity.

Bseisu founded the operations and investment business of oil services provider Petrofac in 1998 and this formed the basis of EnQuest when it was spun out of Petrofac earlier this year. Petrofac shareholders received one EnQuest share for each Petrofac share that they owned.

EnQuest says that it is on target to produce 18,000 barrels of oil per day in 2010. The company's assets are in the UK Continental Shelf.

Morgan Staley recently started covering EnQuest with an overweight recommendation and RBC Capital started with an outperform rating.

Top Director Buys

EnQuest (ENQ) Director name: Mr Amjad BseisuAmount purchased: 2,830,103 @ 96.35p Value: £2,726,804

EnQuest (ENQ) Director name: Mr Amjad BseisuAmount purchased: 3,208,784 @ 96.13p Value: £3,084,604

Canaccord Financial Inc. (CF.) Director name: Mr Paul ReynoldsAmount purchased: 20,000 @ 538.65p Value: £107,730

Bodycote (BOY) Director name: Mr Stephen C HarrisAmount purchased: 40,642 @ 192.90p Value: £78,398

Standard Life (SL.) Director name: Mr David Thomas NishAmount purchased: 25,000 @ 179.32p Value: £44,830

QinetiQ Group (QQ.) Director name: Mr Mark J ElliottAmount purchased: 25,000 @ 132.92p Value: £33,230

QinetiQ Group (QQ.) Director name: Admiral James Burnell-Nugent KCB,CBE, ADCAmount purchased: 11,419 @ 131.36p Value: £15,000

Top Director Sells

Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) Director name: Mr Michael Andrew CoupeAmount sold: 37,724 @ 316.80p Value: £119,510

Bankers Petroleum Ltd (BNK) Director name: Mr Eric M BrownAmount sold: 10,000 @ 503.09p Value: £50,309