12th Jun 2014 07:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - Premier Oil PLC Thursday said that the UK government has approved its development plan for the Catcher oil and gas field area in the North Sea, meaning it can press ahead with developing oil fields within the area for first production, expected in mid-2017.
The Premier-operated Catcher area, located in the UK Central North Sea, is expected to produce 96 million barrels of oil equivalent with a peak production rate of around 50,000 barrels of oil per day, the company is forecasting.
The project will entail the drilling of 22 subsea wells - 14 producing wells and 8 water injecting wells - on the Catcher, Varadero and Burgman fields which will be tied back to a leased floating production, storage and offloading vessel. The oil will be offloaded by tankers while the gas will be exported through the SEGAL facilities.
"All major service contracts have been awarded and the project is now in the execution phase. First oil is targeted for mid-2017," the company said in a statement.
Premier Oil has a 50% working interest in the Catcher area, while Cairn Energy PLC has a 30% working interest and Hungary's MOL Group a 20% interest.
Premier Oil shares were up 0.5% at 337.4 pence early Thursday, while Cairn Energy was up 0.2% at 200.5002 pence.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @SteveMcGrath1
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