Premier Oil intends to keep the Voyageur Spirit floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel at the Huntington field in the North Sea until April 2019.
The operator has entered into a heads of terms with the vessel owner Teekay to continue production from the field using the flagship facility.
The original deal was set to lapse in April next year.
Designed with a storage capacity of 270,000 bbls, the Voyageur Spirit FPSO offers a processing capacity of 30,000 bopd and a total liquids (oil and water) processing capacity of 60,000 bpd.
Teekay acquired the 2009-built Voyageur Spirit as part of the acquisition of three FPSO units from Sevan in October last year.
Before undergoing upgrades, the FPSO operated on the Shelley field in the UK sector of the North Sea from August 2009 to August 2010.
Premier acquired a 40% non-operated interest in the Huntington light oil field in 2009 as a result of the Oilexco acquisition.
First oil was achieved in April 2013.
The Huntington development consists of four producer wells and two water injectors tied back to the FPSO.
Oil is exported through offshore loading to shuttle tankers while gas is exported via the CATS System and redelivered at the Teesside Gas Terminal where it is sold.
Premier increased it equity position to 100% of the Huntington field as a result of the acquisition of E.ON’s UK North Sea assets in 2016 and the default of minority partners in 2015.
Production averaged 15.6 kboepd in 1H 2017 and the Huntington field was the highest net producer in Premier’s portfolio.
The strong performance was due to high FPSO operating efficiency and improved reservoir management.