The so-called 'trillion dollar man' Dan Peña has predicted that there is between 10 and 20 years worth of oil and gas left to be extracted from the North Sea.
The Mexican-American entrepreneur, who turned Great Western Resources from a $820 start-up in 1982 into a $450m oil and gas exploration group in less than a decade, is now 76 years-old, but far from retirement.
After working with Robert Dyke, who founded the first four wells in the North Sea back in 1971, during the 80s, it is still an area which Peña has faith in.
“The North Sea is a prime asset - through the secondary and tertiary extraction methods the area has now doubled its life; but it's not going to double its life again.
“There's roughly speaking 5,000 wells in the North Sea, and when oil was down around 15 or 20 pounds a barrel a few years ago it would have cost more to cap the wells - but that's a very expensive process, so company is going to do that,” he continued, adding that the UK Continental Shelf probably has up to 20 years of extraction left.
Having helped advise their sovereign wealth funds in the past, he reckons that Norway has about 20 years left in the North Sea, while Kuwait has 50 to 70 more years left in terms of oil and gas extraction.
However, the likes of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have huge oil reserves, which many “grossly underestimate”, which lets the OPEC group dictate the price per barrel.
Peña branded himself the trillion dollar man as he estimates he has created more than one trillion dollars in wealth during his career, turning many of his Quantum Leap Advantage business coaching scheme followers into millionaires or billionaires.
His personal wealth is said to be worth around $500m, which would make him one of the richest people in Scotland - and number 15 on the Sunday Times Rich List, if he was to be included.
The amount of wealth Peña has created would make him the greatest business coach of all time, and all of his material, which he calls the Quantum Leap Advantage, is free on his website.
“You don't have to have money to make money - I started with nothing - I was a tough guy, I've been in jail five times; you wouldn't tell that from the way I live now.”
One of his Scottish success stories is Graeme and Leanne Carling, who he helped with developing their company, United Capital, into a growing business aiming for £500m in turnover by 2024.
“They came to me five years ago with five employees and a turnover of less than £1m - today, they have 150 employees, and a turnover of £140m pounds.”
Peña has been living in the UK for 37 years, since he bought Guthrie Castle in Angus back in the 80s, and finally got his UK citizenship last year.
He has now announced his intention to run in the next UK election, and is set to host a village hall meeting in Guthrie, chaired by local Church of Scotland minister Brian Ramsay, to gauge the mood for his potential candidacy.
Despite claiming to have been approached by existing political parties, he plans to run as an independent.
“Scottish politics is full of empty suits, I'm gonna say it out loud; I'm not afraid.
“I don't want anybody's money, I got plenty of money, I'm funding myself and I'm gonna use my vulgarity as I have for the last 50 years to promote successful business.”
Peña continues: “There's a lot of people that are just fucking fed up, that's how Trump got elected - and Trump, if he runs in 2024, he's gonna win again.
“I made my name in finance already, so political success will just be frosting on the cake to me, because I know what I did for individuals like the Carlings - I can do that for Angus and I can do it for Britain.”
While he accepts that there has never been an independent prime minister of the UK, he has no intention of starting his own party. “I'm leaving all options open, but I'm certainly not a Green Party man, but the agendas of Labour or the Tories don't appeals to me much either.
“The Tories slightly more than Labour, but not much; I think Boris has weak management around him.”
Peña’s manifesto - based on various focus groups he has conducted - aims to scrub up the nation's high streets, take better care of the veterans and pensioners, give out less benefits to those who can still work, make immigration "work for both sides" and attempt to alleviate drug problems.
His current motto is Make Angus Great Again.
“I'm looking forward to the fight,” Peña says, adding that he wants to emulate the toughness of famous Scottish industrialist Andrew Carnegie. “People say I'm considered ruthless, Carnegie was far more ruthless - but for all the money he gave to Scotland, he hasn't got one award.”
Peña is critical of the deteriorating education system in Scotland, along with a perceived lack of past innovation and invention glories, while he blames “piss poor management” for the mishandling of nationalised companies Ferguson Marine and Burntisland Fabrications.
As for plans to hold a second independence referendum, he calls it a pipe dream and adds that rejoining the EU “is a joke”; arguing instead that Scotland would be “net losers”.
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