Tom Reynolds and Iain McKendrick joined Canadian-listed Iona as chief executive and executive chairman respectively at the beginning of September.

Reynolds told Upstream on a visit to London that the ambition is to transform Iona into an important regional player, significantly boosting output within a couple of years and listing on a main exchange.

“We believe that a short to medium-term of Iona’s strategy and portfolio will create greater longer term value for shareholders,” said Reynolds, who led Bridge Energy before it was sold to private equity-backed Spike Exploration in September 2013.

Reynolds