Granuaile Navigation, the former BES shipping company, has acquired the exploration company Aureola via a share swap. Shareholders in Aureola received two Granuaile shares for each Aureola shares held valuing the company at £3.2 million, said Mr Emmett O'Connell, who is chairman of both companies.

Granuaile Navigation will now seek to change its name to Norske Energy and is to commence a six well drilling programme next week in the United States that is intended to prove a recent discovery of an new gas field in Indiana.

Granuaile Navigation trades on the OFEX market in London and will be seeking a listing on the US Nasdaq market in October according to Mr O'Connell. The company was established under a BES scheme six years and acquired interests in two 7,000 tonne ships.

The interests were subsequently sold to a sister BES company, Granuaile Shipping, earlier this year. Granuaile Shipping is also traded on OFEX and like the other two companies is controlled by Mr O'Connell and the Norweigan shipowner, Mr Adle Jebscon.