UK North Sea operator NEO Energy, part of Norway’s HitecVision, has announced the acquisition of independent oil and gas company Zennor Petroleum.
The acquisition comes just weeks after NEO agreed a $1bn deal to acquire ExxonMobil’s non-operated upstream assets in the UK central and northern North Sea.
The Zennor acquisition sees NEO take ownership of a portfolio of assets centred around the strategic Britannia and ETAP production hubs, adding around 40 mmboe of reserves and more than 90 mmboe of un-risked resource.
The transaction is priced at $625m, including deferred and contingent payments.
Russ Alton, CEO of NEO Energy, said: “This transaction provides a further immediate uplift to NEO’s production and resource base with several high-quality follow-on development opportunities. This follows closely on from our agreement with ExxonMobil and is a further demonstration of the scale of our ambition in the UKCS, with a clearly defined target of achieving 120,000 boepd in 2023. We are excited to welcome the Zennor team, whose capabilities complement those in NEO today. Our combined teams will operate a large asset portfolio providing us with greater control and flexibility to maximise value and to invest in further expanding our asset base in the UKCS.”