Independent oil and gas company Harbour Energy reached an agreement with BASF and LetterOne, the shareholders of Wintershall Dea AG, for the acquisition of substantially all of Wintershall Dea’s upstream assets for $11.2 billion.

The target portfolio includes all of Wintershall Dea’s upstream assets in Norway, Germany, Denmark, Argentina, Mexico, Egypt, Libya and Algeria as well as Wintershall Dea’s CO₂ Capture and Storage (CCS) licences in Europe. Wintershall Dea’s Russian assets are excluded. (Earlier this week Russia President Vladimir Putin ordered the sale of Wintershall DEA’s and OMV’s stakes in natural gas upstream joint ventures in Russia to new Russian owners.)

The acquisition will add 1.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent of 2P reserves at around $10/boe and more than 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of production at around $35,000/boepd.

Harbour expects the acquisition to transform itself into one of the world’s largest and most geographically diverse independent oil and gas companies, adding material gas-weighted portfolios in Norway and Argentina and complementary growth projects in Mexico. Harbour will also benefit from an increased reserve life and improved margins with lower operating costs and greenhouse gas intensity.

Acquisition highlights include:

• Combined production of over 500 kboepd and 2P reserves of 1.5 bnboe

• Increases Harbour’s 2P reserve life to around 8 years with organic reserve replacement opportunities from around 1.5 bnboe of combined 2C resources

• Enhances Harbour’s natural gas-weighting with combined natural gas production of more ethan 300 kboepd (around 60% of total production)

• Lower combined GHG emissions intensity of around 15 kgCO₂e/boe

The acquisition is subject to, among other things, regulatory, antitrust and foreign direct investment approvals, as well as Harbour shareholder approval. Completion of the acquisition is expected to occur in Q4 2024.