Migration rises from Houston to London as banks seek oil & gas experts

A dearth of British oil and gas investment bankers has led to a wave of senior rainmakers moving from Texas to the City of London.

Oil and gas is one of the City's most lucrative sectors, but the recession has led to many bankers either losing work or moving to less bureaucratic boutique banks.

This month, Deutsche brought over Michael Hafner from its Houston office to become head of energy for Europe, Middle East & Asia. Mr Safner joined Deutsche from Morgan Stanley in April last year, and now fills a post that has been vacant since Ben Morgan left the bank in late 2008.

UBS has also poached a senior figure from its Houston office, bringing Mark Hobbs across the pond earlier this month to head up a reformed team. The previous unit, headed by David Waring and Martin Copeland, left to join smaller rival Lexicon Partners earlier this year. A sector source said that there had been "at least 10 moves among banks in oil & gas in the past six weeks".