Salamander Energy shares fell nearly 5% this morning after the firm admitted production at the Bualuang oil field in the Gulf of Thailand was unlikely to restart until February.
Earlier this month, the upstream exploration firm announced it had been forced to temporarily shut down production at the field following damage to a production riser.
The damage was caused during a spell of bad weather when mooring chains from the Rubicon Vantage FPSO damaged it, resulting in a small oil spill.
Salamander today said a full inspection has since been carried out by divers and replacement riser sections and piping spool materials have been moved to location.
“Good progress is being made, but following the loss of several working days due to further bad weather, production is now expected to restart in early February,” the firm said.
The firm said the shut-in hadn’t impacted development drilling at the field, and two new production wells have been drilled and completed since the initial shut-in.
“These new wells will enter production as operations resume, the net effect being to continue Bualuang’s production expansion,” said Salamander.
The company said its production forecast for 2014 was unchanged at an average of between 13,000 and 16,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
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