UK's Harbour Energy closes Wintershall Dea acquisition

London-listed independent Harbour Energy expects an increase of up to 42pc in its oil and gas production this year following the completion today of an $11.2bn deal for most of German firm Wintershall Dea's assets.

The acquisition has boosted Harbour's output to around 475,000 b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d), which is three times more than it produced in the first half of this year, but about 25,000 boe/d less than the company predicted when it announced the deal in December last year.

Harbour forecasts that its full-year output — including contributions from the Wintershall Dea portfolio during the final four months of 2024 — will average 250,000-265,000 boe/d, up from 186,000 boe/d in 2023.

It expects its capital expenditure to come in at around $1.7bn this year, $500mn higher than it would have been without the acquisition.

The deal includes Wintershall Dea's oil and gas assets in Norway, Germany, Denmark, Argentina, Mexico, Egypt, Libya and Algeria but it excludes the firm's Russia-related activities. Wintershall Dea produced 330,000 boe/d in January-June this year, 69pc of which was gas and two-thirds of which was in northern Europe.

By James Keates