Premier Oil has provides a trading and operations update ahead of its 2009 Preliminary Results, which will be declared on 25th March 2010.

Simon Lockett, Chief Executive, said,"2009 was a year in which we took advantage of market conditions to build our portfolio through acquisition. 2010 promises to be another busy year executing our development programme so that we remain on track to meet our medium-term production target of 75,000 boepd. We also expect to drill around 12 exploration wells focused on the North Sea and SE Asia, to move more existing projects into the development phase and to continue to expand our portfolio of attractive acreage for future exploration".

Estimated average production for the full year 2009 was 44.2 kboepd (2008: 36.5 kboepd) in line with previous guidance. In the UK, the Oilexco legacy assets averaged 11.7 kboepd for the period of ownership, in line with expectations. As previously reported, the Shelley field declined rapidly since being brought on-stream in August and could be abandoned as early as this year. Steady production was achieved from Premier's legacy assets at the Kyle, Scott and Wytch Farm fields. In Pakistan, strong gas demand was coupled with good production performance from all our fields. In Indonesia, bad weather conditions delayed the tie-in of the new FPSO on Kakap, resulting in continued weak performance from that field. However, with Singapore gas demand remaining strong, lower gas volumes from the Kakap field were compensated to a large extent by additional production from our Anoa field.

Premier has divested, and will continue to divest, non-core assets which do not have materiality for the group. After taking account of completed and planned asset sales, group production in 2010 is expected to be at a similar level to that of 2009.

Tags: Premier Oil