Premier Oil has confirmed it was on track to grow production by 50 percent over the course of this year. Due to this being in line with its previous target, Premier Oil will focus more on existing assets than new acquisitions this year.

Two new projects in the North Sea are to be brought into production this year which will help Premier Oil meet its 60,000 to 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) target, putting it on course to exceed 2011's average output.

Premier Oil also has five other projects awaiting final investment decisions and plans to concentrate on its existing assets after completing a number of acquisitions last year.

"We will continue to look (at acquisitions), we always do, but the priority will remain our existing portfolio because we've got developments moving forward," chief executive Simon Lockett said in an interview with Reuters.

According to recent media reports Premier Oil was interested in partnering with oil firm Rockhopper to develop an oil field off the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. Premier Oil's main assets are in south east Asia and the North Sea.

"I don't comment on market rumours," Lockett said when asked whether Premier was interested in partnering with Rockhopper.

Reuters reported that 'he said Premier had not accessed Rockhopper's data room, a tool set up to help would-be bidders assess the quality of the asset on offer.'

When asked if the firm planned to access the data room in future, he repeated that he did not comment on market rumours.

Tags: Premier Oil