Production still ramping up at Catcher in the North Sea

July 12, 2018
Premier Oil’s Catcher Area fields in the UK central North Sea averaged more than 50,000 boe/d last month.

Offshore staff

LONDONPremier Oil’s Catcher Area fields in the UK central North Sea averaged more than 50,000 boe/d last month, with plant availability increasing as commissioning of secondary systems ends ahead of final acceptance of the FPSO.

Data from the three fields (Catcher, Varadero, and Burgman) indicates that delivery from the available wells remains significantly above the FPSO’s design capacity. To date, 10 cargoes have been offloaded with more than 5 MMbbl produced.

TheDSV Falcon is currently in field completing tie-ins for the four Phase 2 development wells, expected to be ready to flow later this month. The remaining two wells, both on the Burgman template, are currently being drilled and the program should be completed during the current quarter.

Elsewhere in the UK North Sea, Premier is a partner in the Kyle development where field life has been extended by 12 months to August 2019, following an agreement between CNR and Teekay to extend the lease of theBanff FPSO.

Premier’s board approved theTolmount gas project in the southern sector in June and the partners are due to issue formal sanction soon.

Letters of interim agreement have been signed with the platform and pipeline contractors and the terminal identified for onshore processing of the gas. Start-up is targeted for 4Q 2020.

In Southeast Asia, the Premier-operated Chim Sáo field in the Natuna Sea off Vietnam has performed strongly, the company said, following infill drilling and recent interventions that have brought onstream new reservoir zones within existing wells.

Further interventions should follow later this year to further support production.

In the Indonesian Natuna Sea block A, construction has finished of the BIG-P development deck at the Batam fabrication yard and this will be delivered soon.

BIG-P, due to deliver first gas in 2019, will help backfill Premier’s sale contracts to Singapore and maintain production from block A.

The company is also in discussions with seismic contractors on a 2,000-sq km (772-sq mi) 3D survey over its newly awarded Andaman II license in the North Sumatra basin offshore Aceh.

07/12/2018