Tenaz gains access to ‘highly prospective’ North Sea gas assets in $244M deal

October 6, 2025, by Dragana Nikše

Canada’s public energy company Tenaz Energy has acquired a private company holding interests in an offshore development on the border between the Dutch and German sectors of the North Sea.

Platform N05-A in the North Sea; Source: ONE-Dyas

As disclosed by Tenaz, the acquisition of the issued and outstanding shares of an undisclosed private company grants it access to the Gateway to the Ems (GEMS) project. ONE-Dyas is the project operator, with EBN and Eni as partners in the Netherlands and Germany, respectively.

The GEMS assets comprise five licenses described as highly prospective, three in the Netherlands and two in Germany. They cover 1,811 square kilometers at an average distance of 30 kilometers offshore in a water depth of around 25 meters.

Dutch licenses are N4/N5/N8 blocks production license (27%), N7c block production license (22.5%), and 4Quads block exploration license (45%). Both German licenses are extraction and exploration licenses, for H&L blocks (27%), and Geldsackplate (45%).

According to Tenaz, the purchase price amounted to $244 million, comprising $232 million in cash and $12 million in Tenaz common shares, with contingent consideration of up to $60 million based on future exploration prospects. Net production from the assets in 2025 was estimated to be 3,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d). This amount is expected to increase to around 7,000 boe/d in 2026.

The assets include the currently producing N05-A platform in Dutch waters, installed in August 2024, with a nameplate capacity of 225 MMcf/d before future expansion. This platform is tied into the NGT offshore gas gathering system, in which Tenaz already has an interest, via a pipeline. Late last year, Allseas completed the pipeline installation and post-lay activities.

The N05-A platform is envisaged to receive wind power from the Riffgat Windfarm in German waters, said to be the first in the North Sea to run entirely on wind. Thanks to the integration of wind energy to power the GEMS assets, the platform is expected to generate near-zero emissions once running on wind power.

While the N05-A platform was targeted to become operational in late 2024, production started in March 2025 from what Tenaz says is a highly prolific N05-A-01 well, in which it has a 33.3% working interest. The Canadian player claims this is currently the highest-producing rate well in the Netherlands.

North Sea platform designed to run on offshore wind gearing up for first gas by year-end (Video)

Exploration & Production

The N05-A pool is unitized across the Netherlands-German maritime border. It is estimated to have a gross P50 gas initially in place of 259 Bcf and an estimated gross 2P recoverable gas of 219 Bcf. The field is planned to be further developed with two infill wells, with drilling planned to start in Q4 2025.

Development and exploration

In addition to N05-A, the assets include two discovered and tested fields assigned “proved undeveloped reserves” status, four fields with discovered gas that have been assigned “contingent resources,” and 14 exploration prospects that contain “prospective resources.”

The two proved undeveloped fields are the N04-A field and the N04-C field, which will be developed from the proposed N04 satellite platform. With a planned capacity of 130 MMcf/d, the N04 is planned to reuse a topside from a decommissioned Netherlands block tied back to the N05-A platform.

The installation of the satellite and development of the two N04 fields are planned in 2027, with production starting in 2028. Combined, the two undeveloped fields have an estimated gross P50 GIIP of 248 Bcf, and an estimated gross 2P recoverable gas of 156 Bcf.

14 exploration prospects on the licenses have been assessed for prospective resources. Three of these have been evaluated economically as they have clear execution plans and are anticipated to be drilled in the near term from the existing N05-A and planned N04 platforms.

The three prospects total 358 Bcf of gross mean unrisked prospective resources, with a total of 210 Bcf gross risked prospective resources. One of the three prospects, N05-A-Noord, is expected to be drilled in the first half of 2026.

The four discovered contingent fields are estimated to have total gross mean unrisked contingent resources of 389 Bcf, with a risked total of 243 Bcf. Being situated farther away from the producing platform, these fields are considered contingent as current plans do not encompass the infrastructure required for their development.

Apart from the latest acquisition, the Canadian player recently hired the Shelf Drilling Winner jack-up for operations offshore the Netherlands. The contract covers one year firm, with an option for Tenaz to prolong it to three years within the first six months of operations. The start of operations is expected in October or November 2025.