Ramco Energy announces wind subsidiary

ABERDEEN, Scotland, June 4 (UPI) -- Shares in Scotland-based Ramco Energy climbed after the company announced it would establish a wind subsidiary.

After announcing it would branch out to wind farm development, shares in the oil and gas firm climbed more than 8 percent.

The Aberdeen-based company said it had set up a new subsidiary, SeaEnergy Renewables, to explore global opportunities for large-scale offshore wind farm development.

Ramco said it had an 88 percent stake in SeaEnergy, with the founding management team owning the rest, the Glasgow Herald reported.

Ramco said SeaEnergy had previously developed the Beatrice wind farm in the United Kingdom's North Sea for Canada's Talisman Energy and Scottish and Southern Energy. The market for offshore and deepwater wind farms is growing, and the wind industry as a whole is growing at between 10 percent and 15 percent, the company said.

Much of the growth is attributed to aggressive renewable energy targets mandated across the European Union, the company said.