Australian company Talon Petroleum has agreed to buy 100% of EnCounter Oil in line with its target to scale-up its UK North Sea portfolio.
The acquisition, which is for an undisclosed amount and subjected to shareholder approval, is more than doubling the size of Talo's North Sea portfolio.
"Talon is rapidly increasing its North Sea presence with the acquisition of EnCounter Oil Limited and the farm-in to Licence P2368, which contains the Curlew-A discovery," said a press statement.
Hertfordshire-based EnCounter Oil’s portfolio includes the wholly-owned Skymoos prospect located in the outer Moray Firth, thought to hold up to 100m barrels of oil equivalent, as well as the Rocket prospect in the Central Graben Area, estimated to contain approximately 27m barrels.
EnCounter directors Graham Dore and Paul Young will join the team at Talon, which is headquartered in Newcastle, New South Wales.
Talon managing director Matthew Worner said: “The transaction with EnCounter Oil is a significant step forward in our UK North Sea strategy. We are extremely pleased to be executing this deal with EnCounter Oil, with the company acquiring both the highly-prospective Skymoos and Rocket prospects."
In October 2018, Talon made its first entry into the North Sea market, taking a 10% stake in the Curlew-A discovery from Corallian Energy.
New South Wales-based Talon is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and had been focused on shale operations in the US.