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Harbour Energy Strikes $3.2B Deal to Buy LLOG, New Core Business

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   |    Tuesday,December 23,2025

December 2025 — Harbour Energy plc has agreed to acquire 100% of LLOG Exploration Company LLC for $3.2 billion, marking a strategic entry into the deepwater U.S. Gulf of America and establishing the region as a new core business unit for the company.

The transaction carries an effective date of October 1, 2025 and is expected to close in late Q1 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Harbour describes the acquisition as a rare opportunity to enter the Gulf at scale with a premium, oil-weighted, fully operated offshore portfolio, supported by a technically proven management and operating team.

At announcement, LLOG produced approximately 34 kboepd on a working-interest basis in H1 2025, with production expected to more than double by 2028 as development activity accelerates across its core hubs, including Who Dat, Buckskin, and Leon-Castile. Harbour views this growth trajectory as a key driver of longer-dated cash flow visibility and portfolio resilience.

 Why LLOG materially changes Harbour’s portfolio

Harbour is acquiring high-margin, long-life offshore oil production that materially improves its corporate mix. LLOG’s low operating cost structure and favorable tax profile contrast sharply with Harbour’s legacy UK exposure and are expected to lift after-tax margins and free cash flow durability over time.

From a reserves perspective, the acquisition increases Harbour’s 2P reserves by roughly 22%, extending corporate reserve life to approximately eight years and supporting Harbour’s stated goal of sustaining ~500 kboepd of production through the end of the decade.

Beyond existing production, Harbour places significant value on LLOG’s infrastructure-led development inventory and exploration capability. The LLOG team has been responsible for a meaningful share of Gulf discoveries over the past decade and controls a sizeable inventory of unrisked prospective resources, giving Harbour both near-term development visibility and longer-cycle upside.

Financing and capital allocation context

The transaction is funded through a balanced mix of cash and equity, designed to preserve balance-sheet flexibility and maintain Harbour’s investment-grade ambitions. Cash consideration is supported by a combination of short-term bridge financing, a three-year term loan, and existing liquidity, while the equity component reduces incremental leverage and aligns the seller with Harbour’s post-transaction performance.

Management positions the deal as free-cash-flow-per-share accretive from 2027, with a meaningful uplift in cumulative free cash flow expected over the 2026–2030 period. The acquisition is also framed as complementary to other recent portfolio actions intended to recycle capital out of sub-scale assets and into higher-return, longer-life opportunities.

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