British North Sea-focused oil and gas producers, Oranje-Nassau Energie (ONE) and Dyas, have agreed to merge to expand production, the privately-owned companies said on Thursday.
The merged group, ONE-Dyas, will operate alongside a group of of several relatively large independent oil producers that entered the North Sea in recent years, including private equity-backed Chrysaor and Neptune.
The tie-up will enable ONE-Dyas "to pursue further growth opportunities," according to the statement.
The two Netherlands-based firms expect to have a joint production in 2019 of 35,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), they said.
Dyas holds stakes in several major British North Sea fields including Nexen-operated Buzzard, Premier Oil-operated Catcher and Total-operated Elgin Franklin. ONE also holds stakes in Buzzard, Elgin Franklin and Breagh.
The company will be led by Robert Baurdoux, the current Chief Executive Officer of Dyas while ONE's current CEO Alexander Berger will act as executive director.
Under the agreement, ONE will own 51 percent of the shares in the combined group while SHV Holdings, Dyas's parent company, will hold the remaining 49 percent.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2019.
The two had a combined production of over 40,000 boed in 2017, according to their websites.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso and Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Adrian Croft and Elaine Hardcastle)