Premier Oil on Wednesday reduced its forecast for its 2019 operating costs to US$12 per barrel of oil equivalent (boe) from US$ 13 and expects debt reduction to reach the upper end of its US$ 250-350 million target by year-end.
Britain’s Premier Oil increased its 2019 production guidance on Thursday, saying output had been boosted by efficiency measures and a late sale from its now-divested Pakistan oil fields. The company said it now expects output to reach 75,000 to 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) this year, from up to 75,000 boed previously.
UK-based oil and gas firm Premier Oil with interests in the Falkland Islands has announced its full-year results for 2018, reporting a post-tax profit hike to US$ 133.4m as a result of record production. These full-year results are a ‘return to profitability’ from 2017’s full-year loss of US$ 253.8m.
Premier Oil shares were up on Thursday after the company updates the market on the successful completion of part of its Zama well appraisal program in the Gulf of Mexico. According to the update, the appraisal revealed 152 metres of net pay encountered above the oil water contact.
Premier Oil has taken advantage of its second consecutive year of record oil production to make larger than expected cuts into its still-significant debts. The London-listed oil and gas developer, with interests in the Falkland Islands, expects its financial results to reveal end-of-year debts of US$2.3 billion, after removing US$390 million from the total following a sharp rise in oil output.
Premier Oil said it expected full-year production to come in at the low end of a previously announced 80,000 to 85,000 barrels per day range. The company, with interests in the Falkland Islands and which has been focusing on cutting debts, also said its debt pile would shrink to US$ 2.4 billion by the year-end.
Premier Oil has lifted its full-year production guidance as well as estimated resources at a huge oilfield it discovered off the coast of Mexico. Premier Oil, the operations of which stretch from Indonesia to the Falkland Islands, now expects 2017 production in the range of 75,000-80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), up from the previous forecast of 75,000 boepd, thanks to its strongly performing North Sea fields.
The Financial Times is reporting that Premier Oil is negotiating with the UK government about securing export finance to fund just over half of the US$1.5bn investment needed to develop a large oilfield in waters north of the Falkland Islands. If all works out as planned first oil in the Falklands would be in 2021.
Premier Oil (with strong interests in Falklands' oil industry), together with its joint venture partners Talos Energy (Operator) and Sierra Oil & Gas, announced on Wednesday that the Zama-1 exploration well in Block 7, offshore Mexico, has made a world class oil discovery.
Premier Oil has pushed back its refinancing deal to the first quarter of 2017 but said lenders had largely agreed to new terms, including extending debt repayment dates in exchange for some control over which projects the company can invest in.