UK North Sea Catcher field, Premier Oil’s crown jewel set to start oil production in 2017, might achieve higher plateau output rate than initially anticipated.
According to Premier Oil, ten wells have been drilled to date at the project. The drilling results have led the operator to be optimistic that a higher plateau production rate can be achieved.
The company didn’t go into details on what numbers might be reached. Premier Oil has earlier stated the Catcher’s expected production rates would be around 50 kboepd (gross).
The field will be developed via an FPSO currently under construction in Singapore.
Premier has said that a review is now underway to understand the potential additional production capacity available from the FPSO.
On the budget side, Premier said total capex forecast remains at $1.6 billion, 29 per cent lower than the sanctioned estimate.
As for the FPSO, Premier Oil has informed that good progress is being made on the unit with the construction work for the installation and integration of the topsides complete, while the construction scope in the hull is nearing completion.
Commissioning is underway and this will continue up until sailaway. The company did not share the expected sailaway date.
Worth noting, for the first quarter of 2017, Premier’s oil and gas production grew drastically to 82.6 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day, compared to 57.3 kboepd last year.
The growth was mainly boosted by its UK assets where Premier produced 45.7 kboepd, as a result of a full contribution from the former E.ON assets and the Solan field, up from 17.6 kboepd a year ago.
Offshore Energy Today Staff