NEO Energy has agreed to acquire rival UK North Sea exploration and production company Zennor Petroleum in a deal worth up to £450million.
The transactions will hoist HitecVision-backed Neo’s output to around 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day in 2021, from about 30,000 currently, and expanding to 90-100,000 from 2022-26.
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The acquisition gives the company a portfolio of assets in the Central and Northern North Sea, centred around the Britannia and Eastern Trough Area Project (ETAP) production hubs.
Aberdeen and London-based Neo’s purchase of Zennor from Kerogen Capital will add 40 million barrels of reserves and 90m barrels of contingent resources to its portfolio.
In late February 2021, NEO Energy signed a deal with ExxonMobil to acquire a portfolio of non-operated oil and gas assets in the Central and Northern North Sea for more than $1bn.
Russ Alton, NEO Energy chief executive officer, 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.”
