Exploration group Premier Oil saw profits rise by 10% in the first half of 2013 as the company turned its focus on the North Sea for next year.
The company, which last week farmed into the Bagpuss and Blofeld prospects in the Moray Firth, posted pre-tax profits for the first six months of the year of $214.61million – up from $194.6million during the same period of 2012.
But the company admitted hitting its full-year production targets of 63,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day would depend on the success of the Huntington North Sea field.
The field, which has been struck by technical problems since launching in April – including a safety shutdown which finally ended this week – is due to produce around 27,000 boed, with Premier taking a 40% share of the output.
The company was saw no output from the Kyle North Sea field this year, after the floating production vessel which handled output from the field was damaged by bad weather in 2011 and taken off location.
Premier said it was making considerable progress on the Catcher project, with tenders received for the FPSO to handle the site last week and development drilling.
It was also boosted by the discovery of the Bonneville wfind, which will be tied back to Catcher after first oil is produced.
“We have had one of our most successful periods for exploration with six discoveries from seven wells, material additions to the portfolio and significant maturation of high impact leads and prospects,” said chief executive Simon Lockett.
“We are actively managing our portfolio to focus on our operated development projects.
“Despite rising costs and challenging execution timetables across the industry, we see high returns on capital and strong cash flow growth as we deliver on these valuable projects.”
Elsewhere the company said it had turned its focus in Norway to the Bream project and appraising the new Luno II discovery, which is estimated to contain up to 130million barrels of oil equivalent.
It is also to spend $150million on exploring oil potential in Brazil after winning three blocks in the May licencing round.
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