Kistos takes 30% of Abbey and Baker, adding 9 mmboe of Southern North Sea gas

Kistos has signed a binding farmout agreement to buy a 30% non-operated interest in the Abbey and Baker gas developments, adding roughly 9 million barrels of oil equivalent of net 2P reserves to its portfolio. The deal would lift the group's pro forma proved and probable reserves to about 59 mmboe, from 49.2 mmboe as of 30 June 2026, upon a final investment decision anticipated in 2027.

The buyer is Kistos Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK-based group. The seller, Petrogas North Sea, is a UK exploration and production company and subsidiary of Petrogas E&P UK. Petrogas retains operatorship and a 70% working interest after completion. Both assets sit within UK Seaward Production Licences.

What does the deal actually deliver?

The headline number is modest by North Sea standards but meaningful for a company of Kistos' size. Nine million boe net represents an increase of nearly one-fifth on the existing reserve base, and the split is firmly gas: about 98% of reserves across the two fields.

First production is targeted for 2029. Kistos expects net plateau output of around 4,000 boepd, within a gross development peak of roughly 18,000 boepd. For context, 4,000 boepd net is roughly 1.5 million cubic feet of gas per day equivalent reaching the group's books at plateau.

The development concept is conventional and low-cost in spirit. Four wells will tie back subsea to a nearby existing platform, with export through the UK National Transmission System. Both fields lie in the UK Southern Gas Basin in roughly 40 m of water.

The takeaway: this is a tie-back development, not frontier engineering, and that is precisely the point.

Who said what?

Kistos executive chairman Andrew Austin said: "This value-accretive acquisition adds a high-quality, gas-weighted development to our UK portfolio at an attractive entry point."

He added: "The UK will continue to depend on domestic gas supply for many years to come, and Abbey and Baker provide Kistos with long-term gas production, building on our existing North Sea gas business."

On the operator, Austin was equally direct: "We are delighted to be partnering again with Petrogas, an operator we know well and whose technical work on these fields has been of a very high standard. We look forward to working with them to bring the development through to first gas."

Kistos clearly regards a returning operator as a risk reducer. That view will be tested at FID.

Where do the fields stand technically?

The two discoveries are recent by basin standards. Baker, in Block 47/3f and about 5 km north-west of Abbey, was discovered in 2024. Abbey, in Block 47/3i, was successfully appraised in 2025. Petrogas has held operatorship since 2022.

Engineering studies are complete. A draft Field Development Plan and Environmental Statement were submitted in July 2026. Reserve estimates follow the Petroleum Resource Management System guidelines.

The appraisal work is done on paper. The capital commitment is not.

What stands between signing and closing?

Completion requires consent from the North Sea Transition Authority plus customary conditions. Financial details and further terms will be announced once the transaction closes, which Kistos expects before the end of 2026.

That leaves two gates in sequence: NSTA consent this year, then FID in 2027, then first gas in 2029. Any slip compounds.

The watch items are the NSTA decision before year-end and the draft FDP's passage through consultation, with the 2027 FID as the number that converts 9 mmboe of paper reserves into sanctioned barrels.

A footnote in Muscat

Separately, in September 2026 Kistos secured a Royal Decree from the Sultanate of Oman covering its acquisition of onshore Blocks 3 and 4, the Afar and Ghunaim assets, from Mitsui E&P Middle East. The UK gas deal is the larger near-term reserve story. The Oman decree extends the group's geographic spread into onshore Middle East acreage.

The pattern is clear: Kistos is buying proved, gas-weighted barrels near existing infrastructure rather than drilling for them. In a basin winding down, that is not the worst strategy on offer.

The verdict: a disciplined tie-back deal, contingent on regulators and a 2027 FID, that adds gas the UK still intends to burn.