North Sea firm Premier flags £420m in revenues

The North Sea-focused oil and gas producer Premier Oil has flagged firsthalf revenues of about $530 million (£421 million), as lower commodity prices are partially offset by the group’s hedging programme.

In a trading update, Premier said it had hedged just over a fifth of its output in the second half of the year at about $56 a barrel of oil equivalent. Current benchmark oil prices sit at around $43.

The group is anticipating output of between 65,000 and 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) this year.

Afteroilmajorbpamended the terms surrounding the sale of some of its North Sea fields to Premier last month, the latter group expects its output to rise by 17,000 boed from the targeted deal completion date of 30 September.

Premier boss Tony Durrant said: “The continued underlying performance of our core assets along with the decisive action we have taken to reduce our expenditure… has resulted in our net debt remaining broadly flat.”