08:43 AM EST, 12/23/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Vermilion Energy ( VET ) traded 2% higher at last look Monday in NYSE pre-market trading after agreeing to acquire privately held oil and gas company Westbrick Energy for $1.08 billion.

Vermilion said the acquisition adds 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 1.1 million acres of land in the Deep Basin trend in Alberta.

"The strategic acquisition of Westbrick represents a significant step forward in Vermilion's North American high-grading initiative to increase operational scale and enhance full-cycle margins in the liquids-rich Deep Basin," said Dion Hatcher, Vermilion's president and CEO. "The Deep Basin is an area Vermilion has been operating in for nearly three decades and is currently the largest producing asset in the company."

Vermilion said it will fund the acquisition through its undrawn $1.35 billion revolving credit facility.

Closing is expected in the first quarter of 2025.