A week after Shell and Equinor launched their combined UK North Sea business, French supermajor TotalEnergies announced on Monday it would merge its upstream UK business with NEO NEXT to create the biggest independent oil and gas producer in Britain.
TotalEnergies has signed deal with NEO NEXT under which the French major will merge its Upstream business with NEO NEXT and become the leading shareholder in the expanded NEO NEXT, which will be renamed NEO NEXT+, with a 47.5% ownership.
Completion of the transaction is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected during the first half of 2026.
Following the completion of the deal, NEO NEXT+ will be jointly owned by TotalEnergies with a 47.5% stake, HitecVision with 28.875%, and Repsol UK with a 23.625% interest.
NEO NEXT+ will become the largest independent oil and gas producer in the UK with a production over 250,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2026, TotalEnergies said.
The new company would be “ideally positioned to maximize the value of its portfolio, deliver strong financial returns and ensure a long-term sustainable and resilient future for its oil & gas business,” TotalEnergies added.
NEO NEXT+ will include NEO Energy’s and Repsol UK’s interests in the Elgin/Franklin complex and the Penguins, Mariner, Shearwater, and Culzean fields, enriched by TotalEnergies’ UK Upstream assets, notably including its interests in the Elgin/Franklin complex and the Alwyn North, Dunbar, and Culzean fields.
“This transaction demonstrates the long-lasting commitment of TotalEnergies towards the UK oil and gas sector and its energy security,” TotalEnergies chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said.
The deal was announced a week after Shell and Equinor completed the transaction to combine their offshore UK oil and gas operations in a 50/50 joint venture, Adura, and less than two weeks after the blow to the UK North Sea oil and gas industry as the government kept the windfall tax on operators in the budget.
The North Sea industry slammed the government’s decision not to reform the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) and “to tax the industry to death inside five years.”
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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