Serica Energy will refocus on growing oil and gas operations in the UK North Sea for merger and acquisition (M&A) opportunities, reported Reuters.

This move marks a reversal from the company's previous strategy to invest overseas due to the UK's windfall tax, which was introduced in 2022 in response to soaring energy prices.

North Sea producers have expressed concerns that the windfall tax could deter investment in the region.

The industry has seen asset sales, operational mergers and diversification into other areas as a result.

However, Serica CEO Chris Cox has identified new investment opportunities in the North Sea.

Cox said: "I don't think the tax regime can get any worse than it is today... I think the UK is at the bottom of the cycle at the moment. That is a great time to be buying assets or consolidating."

In contrast to its earlier strategy of seeking investments in other regions such as the Norwegian North Sea, Serica has now underscored its commitment to the UK sector.

Cox added: "The focus was all on Norway... It is really, really competitive and the expectations of sellers I think are unrealistic for Norway... We have actually shifted our focus quite strongly back to the UK."

The company anticipates a 15.6% production increase in 2025 to around 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), as stated in a trading update before its 2024 results on 1 April 2024.

Serica has historically enhanced production through acquisitions and investments but faced challenges in 2024 due to an outage at the Triton floating production storage and offloading vessel in the North Sea.

However, production at Triton has now resumed and a five-well drilling campaign is under way.