Waldorf Production, a UK-based oil and gas exploration company, is weighing the sale of its operations, reported Bloomberg, citing sources.

The company, which is focused on the North Sea, has hired Citigroup to explore strategic options for the business.

Waldorf’s business review comes after its growth plans were hampered by the energy windfall tax imposed by the UK Government.

Talks are still ongoing and there is no certainty that Waldorf will continue with the plan to sell, the sources added.

Citigroup and Waldorf representatives declined to comment on the development.

Waldorf is a relative newcomer to oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.

The company established itself through the acquisition of Endeavour Energy UK in 2019.

Following the Endeavour Energy deal, Waldorf purchased assets from Capricorn Energy and Mol Nyrt, a Hungarian oil and gas company.

It was looking to raise as much as $2bn (£1.63bn) for more acquisitions as of late last year.

In February 2022, reports emerged that Waldorf was closing in on a deal to buy oil and gas assets from Netherlands-based ONE-Dyas for more than $1bn.

On an investor call this month, Waldorf chief financial officer Aaditya Chintalapati said that the business had to abandon negotiated acquisitions of Dutch upstream assets.

Chintalapati said the deal fell apart partly because of the impact of windfall taxes on energy companies in the UK.

The windfall tax is due to stay in place until March 2028.

In June, the UK Government said tax on North Sea oil and gas output would drop from 75% to 40% when prices stabilised for three consecutive months.