Cairn Energy today said it was fully funded and targeting first production from two flagship North Sea assets.
Both its Kraken and Catcher developments are on track for first oil this year, according to Cairn’s pre-closing statement.
Kraken is expected to produce in the second quarter with Catcher scheduled for the second half of the year.
All of Kraken’s producer and injector wells drilled and completed, met or exceeded pre-drill predictions, according to Cairn.
Kraken’s subsea installation programme completed with all three drill centres fully connected to submerged turret production buoy for hook up to FPSO.
Catcher’s project capex is now forecast at $1.6billion -$600 lower than the estimate at sanction.
Chief executive Simon Thomson said: “The next 12 months will be an eventful period for Cairn. We will shortly embark on further exploration and appraisal drilling in Senegal and we continue to work towards first oil and cashflow from our North Sea assets.
“With six successful wells drilled to date in Senegal, Cairn has established a significant and growing resource base. The 2017 drilling programme aims to further define the SNE field for development and target additional exploration upside on the acreage.
“Cairn is fully-funded in respect of all of our capital commitments and we continue to actively assess and pursue new ventures within the context of a balanced portfolio.”
Cairn has a group net cash of $335million. Its reserves based lending bank facility remains undrawn and it has debt availability to fund UK development assets increasing with project progress, with availability expected to reach $350million at peak. An additional $175million is available in the form of Letters of Credit.
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