Endeavour International chief executive William Transier is a busy man and, on the surface at least, not short of self-belief - qualities that are paying off for the company while many other smaller oil companies in the North Sea are faltering.

Today Endeavour finds itself in a pretty good position compared to some of its peers.

“There was a fair amount of criticism over the years when we didn't have exploration success and were putting a lot of leverage on the balance sheet.