Swedish oil company Lundin Petroleum has upped its output forecasts until 2015 – just days after admitting profits had been hit by an increase in exploration costs.
The firm, which owns majority stakes in the giant Johan Sverdrup project, expects to reach average production volumes of between 30,000-35,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) this year, increasing to 75,000 boepd by the end of 2015.
The firm is looking to hit full production levels from the Brynhild field and the start-up of the Bøyla, Bertam and Edvard Grieg by next year, which will contribute to the increase, it says.
Lundin reported its current reserves to stand at 194.1million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and 342million boe of potential prospective resources, excluding any output from the Johan Sverdrup field.
“In the next two years Lundin Petroleum will more than double its production to over 75,000 boepd with the start-up of production from the Brynhild, Bøyla, Bertam and Edvard Grieg fields,” said Ashley Heppenstall, president and CEO of Lundin Petroleum.
“We have today reserves and contingent resources in excess of one billion barrels of oil equivalent and our reserve position will increase by over three fold on submission of the Johan Sverdrup development plan expected by the end of 2014.
“I am confident that our 2014 appraisal and exploration drilling programs including wells on Luno II, Gohta and Tembakau will result in further increases to our reserve and resource base.”
The announcement comes a day after the company had warned its quarterly profits will dip due to an increase in exploration costs in the last three months.
The firm revealed yesterday it faced exploration costs of $135million for the fourth quarter of the year, with an additional after-tax charge of $30million for Luno II and Sverdrup drilling.
Simultaneously, the company had increased its debt facility for the giant Norwegian prospect from $2.5billion to $4billion.