Cairn Energy plc reshuffled its portfolio, sold $460 million of assets in the U.K. North Sea and bought projects in the western desert of Egypt from Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

Both deals, announced on Tuesday and seen to end in the second half of 2021, follow a pickup in oil and gas acquisitions following the recession driven by the 2020 epidemic. Cairns retreated from the North Sea after several international producers moved out of the older region. Already bought in Egypt it enables Shell to choke up in an ongoing splitting program.

“Care’s investment needed to be revived, and the move does,” Al Stanton, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in a note. “However, shareholders are facing a steep learning curve” and Egyptian resources generally provide “limited oil-price incentives”.
Cairn London traded down .4.4% and down 4.2% at 19.03 pence as of 11:07 a.m. local time.

The deal in Egypt, despite delays last year, is in line with Shell’s interest in 13 foreign concessions and Badr El-Din Petroleum Co. The U.K.’s Cairn, together with Cairo-based Cheiron Petroleum Corp., will buy the assets for $646 million and make additional payments of as much as $280 million by 2024, “contingent on the oil price and the results of further exploration,” Shell said in a statement.

The Anglo-Dutch oil major said the deal would enable Shell to focus on its offshore exploration and integrated value chain, including seven new blocks in Egypt’s Blue Delta, the western Mediterranean and the Red Sea.