Chrysaor was founded in 2007 with the purpose of applying development and commercial skills to oil and gas assets and to realise their value safely.

The Group grew rapidly over the years through a series of acquisitions. With backing from Harbour Energy – an investment vehicle formed by EIG Global Energy Partners – Chrysaor acquired significant asset packages in the UK North Sea from Shell (2017) and ConocoPhillips (2019) to become the UK’s largest producer of hydrocarbons.

In 2021, Chrysaor merged with Premier Oil to become Harbour Energy plc.

2007

  • Chrysaor was created via a £100m investment from Chrysaor Holdings Ltd and Barclay Capital's investment team Natural Gas Partner IX, L.P.

2008

  • farm-in to an exploration licence in the Republic of Ireland covering Spanish Point gas condensate
  • awarded Phoenix (Block 13/22c) in the 25th UK Licensing Round
  • two successful appraisal wells drilled on Solan

2009

  • signed a farm-out deal for the Solan field with Premier Oil

2015

  • made the Mustard oil discovery (205/27-3 & 32)

2017

  • completed transformational acquisition of assets from Shell for US$3.0bn with backing from Harbour Energy/EIG, creating the UK's leading North Sea independent exploration and production company
  • operational headquarters opened in Aberdeen city centre in The Capitol building
  • interests in five of the 10 largest production hubs in the UK North Sea.

2018

  • production c. 123,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) at an operating cost below $15/barrel
  • awarded six licences in the 30th UK Licensing Round
  • completed two bolt-on acquisitions, including 100 percent of equity in the Armada hub fields and farm-in to the Grevling discovery, Norwegian North Sea (approved in 2019)

2019

  • completed transformational acquisition of ConocoPhillips UK's oil and gas business for US$2.675 billion, increasing production to c.200,000 boepd
  • entered into an agreement with Apache to farm-in to five licences in the Beryl Area
  • became a founding partner in Acorn - a carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen project based at St Fergus in the North East of Scotland

2020

  • announced a transformational proposed all share merger with Premier Oil, creating the largest UK-listed independent oil and gas cmpany, with a combined production of >200 kboepd
  • awarded eight production licences in the Norwegian Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2019 Licensing Round
  • awarded 14 licences in the 32nd UK Licensing Round
  • 19 January 2021 - awarded a total of six additional licenses in the Norwegian Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2020 Licensing Round
  • 31 March 2021 - completed an all share merger with Premier Oil to form Harbour Energy plc

Read about the history of Premier Oil