Production soars at Harbour Energy as new assets come online

(Sharecast News) - Harbour Energy posted a jump in annual earnings on Thursday, despite a weaker oil price, following a sharp rise in production. The oil and gas developer - which has operations across Europe, Latin America, north Africa and south east Asia - saw total production soar 84% to 474,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the year to December end, at the top end of guidance.

It was boosted by a full year's contribution from the Wintershall Dea assets, which Harbour acquired last year in a transformative $11.2bn deal. The acquisition was part of Harbour Energy's long-term plans to expand beyond the North Sea, after a windfall tax imposed on producers by the UK government hit profits.

Production was further supported by new wells coming onstream in the UK, Norway, Argentina and Egypt.

Revenues and other income were $10.3bn, up from $6.2bn a year previously, while pre-tax profits more than doubled, rising to $2.8bn from $1.2bn.

Linda Cook, chief executive, said 2025 had been a year of "significant progress".

She continued: "We delivered excellent operational performance while maintaining capital discipline and integrating new assets. This drove production and higher free cash flow against a backdrop of lower commodity prices."

Oil and gas prices have spiked in recent days in response to the outbreak of war in the Middle East. However, for much of 2025 Brent crude was tracking lower, on concerns about slowing demand and over supply.

Looking to the current year, Cook said: "2026 is off to a strong start. Production over the first two months of the year averaged 509,000 barrels per day, and we completed the LLOG transaction on 11 February, marking our entry into the US deepwater Gulf."

Harbour announced the $3.2bn acquisition of LLOG late last year.

The FTSE 250 firm forecast production of between 475,000 and 500,000 boepd for 2026, up from an earlier estimate for between 435,000 and 455,000 boepd, following the acquisitions of both LLOG and Waldorf in the UK.

Unit operating costs were forecast to be around $14.50 per barrel of oil equivalent, with free cash flow of $0.6bn, assuming Brent at $65 per barrel and European gas prices at $11 mscf.

The group post-tax loss expanded to $182m from $93m, after the tax bill more than doubled. UK production has now declined to less than a third from over 80% around three years ago, Cook told reporters.