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UK-listed Genel Energy has agreed to acquire Egypt-focused Capricorn Energy in a $360m all-cash deal.

Genel said the acquisition will combine its Kurdistan production base with Capricorn’s portfolio of Egyptian oil and gas assets.

The company also said the deal will allow it to obtain production in a country with a “well-established regulatory regime, stable contracts and attractive fiscal terms”.

Several approvals are still required before the acquisition can be finalised.

In a statement, Genel said: “Genel’s strategy is to build a business with resilient diversified cash flows that deliver sustainable value to shareholders.

“The Genel board and Genel management are resolute in their belief that this can best be achieved through strategic acquisitions, which add substantial high-quality producing assets to its existing portfolio.”

Genel’s existing oil and gas assets include its 25% non-operated working interest in the Tawke PSC in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

The company said this asset generated working interest production averaging 17,520 barrels a day (b/d) of oil in 2025 and had operating costs of around $4 a barrel.

The combined group is expected to hold reserves of 117 million barrels of oil equivalent and production of 41,003 b/d.

Capricorn is headquartered in Edinburgh and has been listed on the London Stock Exchange for more than 30 years.

Its core operations are in Egypt’s Western Desert region, where it holds onshore development and production assets.

In May 2025, Capricorn agreed with Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation to consolidate eight of its 50:50 jointly owned concessions into a single integrated licence with enhanced commercial terms. Capricorn announced in March 2026 that it had received formal parliamentary ratification of the agreement.

The deal has been announced at a time when Genel is seeing frequent disruption to operations at its assets in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Production was temporarily suspended at the Tawke field in February after the US and Israel attacked Iran, increasing security concerns in the wider region.

While the security situation is understood to have improved in the Iraqi Kurdistan region and many oil companies have resumed operations, there are now concerns that the Iraq-Turkiye Pipeline could be shut due to an agreement between the two countries expiring later this month.

If the pipeline does stop operations, it will negatively impact Genel as it is the main route through which the company’s Iraqi oil is exported.