RockRose Energy’s boss said the North Sea oil firm would take time to “digest” its latest acquisition, rather than diving into further deals.
RockRose executive chairman Andrew Austin said there was significant potential to increase production from the company’s existing portfolio.
“Everyone can look more closely at their portfolio when there’s a seven at the front of the oil price,” Mr Austin said.
The firm said yesterday it had swooped for Dyas BV in a £94 million deal that will double its production to 10,000 barrels per day on average.
The transaction is expected to go through over summer.
RockRose shares climbed 12.6% to £4.11 in London yesterday.
Last year, Mr Austin said his short-term goal was to build a portfolio with production of 10-12,000 barrels a day.
He said RockRose would “never say never” to more acquisitions if the right opportunity comes along, but the current focus appears to be on organic growth.
Mr Austin said: “With the higher oil price, we’ve been spinning out a lot of cash in the last six months and are not in debt.
“We’re going to digest where we are. Our stated strategy was to get to 10-12,000 barrels per day and we’re there now.
“In our existing portfolio and in the Dyas assets there is a lot of upside. We want to evaluate that and get the right level of organic growth, rather than just running acquisitions
“We’ve been careful not to overpay for things to date, which is important in a world that’s more competitive.”
Earlier this year RockRose pulled out of a deal to acquire 5.16% of the Scott field and 2.36% of Telford from Maersk Oil.
But Mr Austin said three deals it completed late last year had more than offset the collapse of the Maersk acquisition.
It wrapped up the deal for Egerton Energy Ventures, giving it a 27.8% non-operated interest in the Galahad field and 8.33% of Mordred in the southern North Sea.
The purchase of Sojitz Energy Project gave RockRose stakes in three assets, while its swoop for Idemitsu Petroleum added interests in 10 North Sea fields to its portfolio.
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