North Sea operator Harbour Energy completes buyout of German rival Wintershall DEA

North Sea operator Harbour Energy has completed the acquisition of German rival Wintershall DEA in a deal worth $11.2 billion (£8.53bn).

The UK’s largest North Sea oil and gas producer announced plans for the takeover Wintershall in December last year.

The move came as part of Harbour’s strategy to pivot away from the North Sea to build up its international portfolio following the introduction of the windfall tax.

The company blamed the windfall tax for its decision to cut 350 onshore jobs in the UK last year, as it took a $500m (£381m) hit to its earnings in 2023.

Harbour Energy chief executive Linda Cook said the company is “extremely proud” to complete the Wintershall acquisition.

© Supplied by Offshore Energies UK

“It marks our fourth and most transformational acquisition since we were founded in 2014, and is another big step forward as we continue to build a large, global independent oil and gas company focused on the safe and responsible production of the oil and gas the world still needs,”  Cook said.

Wintershall DEA takover

The Harbour proposal initially attracted pushback from German media, unions and politicians, leading to concern the deal could fall through.

However, in May the company said it had received approval for the deal from Germany’s federal ministry of economics and climate action as well as consent from Norway’s energy ministry.

With the deal now approved, Harbour becomes a major international player and a credible “challenger” to firms like Aker BP.

Harbour will now see its production rise to around 475,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day, with significant production in the UK, Argentina, North Africa and Germany.

© Supplied by Harbour Energy

Harbour said it also maintains a 2P reserve base of around 1.5bn boe, and 1.8bn of 2C resources “providing a broad set of growth options in support of future production and reserve replacement”.

These resources include near-infrastructure opportunities in Norway, unconventional scalable opportunities in Argentina and conventional offshore projects in both Mexico and Indonesia, Harbour said.

Following the deal, Wintershall owner BASF will hold a 46.5% stake in Harbour subject to a six-month lock-up.

Meanwhile, Harbour’s legacy shareholders will retain the remaining 53.5% of the company’s shares.