Vermilion Energy to buy Westbrick Energy Ltd. [Video]

Oil and gas producer Vermilion Energy Inc. says it is acquiring privately held Westbrick Energy Ltd. for $1.075 billion.

The Calgary-based company says the transaction marks a “significant step forward” in increasing operational scale in Alberta’s Deep Basin, a prominent natural gas-producing area.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of the new year.

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Vermilion chief executive Dion Hatcher says the Deep Basin is the company’s largest producing asset and the deal “enhances depth and quality of Vermilion’s Deep Basin inventory.”

He says the deal will add 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in production, along with approximately 770,000 net acres of land from which Vermilion has identified more than 700 drilling locations.

Last week, Vermilion raised its dividend to 13 cents per share, up a penny from 12 cents per …