Hague and London Oil (HALO) has announced that it will acquire major non-operated natural gas assets located in the Dutch North Sea from Tullow Netherlands.

HALO will pay €9.7m to Tullow to acquire the assets, while contingent payments of about €20mln will be made between January 2019 and January 2021.

With the acquisition, HALO will gain access to assets that have a total daily production capacity of about 2900 barrels oil equivalent.

HALO’s management opines that the acquisition is a strategic move towards repositioning itself in a lower risk production environment in established hydrocarbon provinces.

Currently, HALO is in discussions with potential finance providers to fund the payment for the acquisition. 

Hague and London Oil chairman and interim CEO Andrew Cochran said: "Since the combination with Wessex Exploration in 2014, we have been on a slow but steady, measured, path to transform the Company into a lower-risk, successful E&P player. The prolonged market downturn has hit our sector very hard and has certainly impacted our efforts to diversify and grow the portfolio sooner.

“We have therefore been focused, disciplined and persistent in our implementation of the announced strategy, and today's proposed acquisition is the culmination of the Company's dedication to deliver within the stated objectives and a cost-effective manner.

“These are high-quality, cash generative assets with significant upside potential, in a mature basin with existing infrastructure and commercialisation routes – which have been the critical factors in our screening process and are also likely to be key in agreeing the funding of the acquisition.”