Wednesday 5 October 2011

Premier Oil plucks Encore’s £221m North Sea business

UK oil firm Premier Oil is on course to spread its reach in the North Sea after agreeing to buy Encore Oil for £221million. The buy takes Premier's interest in the Catcher area, one of the largest discoveries in the North Sea in recent years, to 50%.

The purchase could tap into an extra 17 million barrels of oil reserves between the Catcher and Cladhan areas.

Simon Lockett, Chief Executive Officer of Premier said: "We are pleased to reach agreement with the Board of EnCore, who have unanimously recommended our proposed offer, and we look forward to building on what they have achieved with the business to date. This is a perfect fit for Premier given our existing North Sea assets."

The FTSE 250 oil and gas company works in the North Sea, the Middle East and Pakistan and South East Asia, which produce 100,000 barrels of oil per day from around 400 million barrels of reserves.