Peter Levine, the oil tycoon who made at least £120 million in the sale of Imperial Energy to the Indians last year, has emerged as the largest shareholder in minnow Meridian Petroleum.

Levine, an Oxford-educated tax exile, has through his Levine Capital Management taken a 29.9% stake in Meridian at a cost of £5.6 million. He is putting his representatives on the board of the company, which is to change its name to President Petroleum.

It is the latest spreading of the Levine fortune made from the sale of Imperial Energy, a Russian oil explorer and sometime stellar stock on Aim, bought by the Indian giant ONGC last year for £1.5 billion. Levine has popped up on the share register of at least three other oil and gas explorers, the African driller BowLeven, the UK coalbed methane developer Island Gas, and Valiant Petroleum, which is searching for oil off the north of Scotland.

Levine has also been buying shares in Northgate, the renter of white vans in Britain, which has had a torrid recession.

Meridian said part of today's deal will see it move away from its US and Australian interests in the search for new assets and reserves.

“The company has a target of becoming a mid-cap, independent exploration and production company with critical mass and a strategic presence in key areas of interest,” said a spokesman.