Dana Petroleum said yesterday that after an agreement with Hyperdynamics in October to farm into the entire exploration licence offshore Guinea its initial evaluation of data was very encouraging.
The Aberdeen oil and gas operator also said that following the Fulla gas-condensate discovery earlier in the year, the partnership group had undertaken work to determine the value of the Norwegian field.
Dana said it was considering its options in relation to Fulla, which include divesting the asset prior to major capital expenditure, and it expected to receive significant interest in its stake from gas-focused firms.
The company also said its production for the year to date had averaged about 38,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), with production over the past three weeks averaging 42,000-plus boepd. It said it continued to anticipate a full-year production rate of about 39,000boepd.
Dana said that in 2009, it now expected to drill 18 exploration wells, while key wells already scheduled for early next year would target large prospects at Bamboo, offshore Egypt, and Anne Marie, in Faroese waters.
Meanwhile fellow Aberdeen firm Faroe Petroleum, said production had begun from the Topaz gas field in the southern North Sea.
Faroe said the field, in which it has a 7.5% interest, was expected to produce initially at 30million cubic feet per day. Partners in Topaz are operator RWE Dea (57.5%) and GDF Suez (37.5%).
Faroe said that following a swap of interests with Dong Norge its production was now above 2,000boepd.
Also yesterday, Premier Oil said it was cutting its production target for the year to 43,000-45,000boepd compared with the 46,000boepd it forecast in August.
It said this was because of a temporary loss of output at a field in Indonesia and maintenance work in the UK, where it acquired Oilexco North Sea out of administration earlier this year.