Premier Oil fields in Indonesia, Vietnam to begin output soon

Britain’s Premier Oil expects first gas production at its Gajah Baru field in Indonesia in six months after a brief delay, while oil output at Vietnam’s Chim Sao field remains on track for July, a senior executive said on Monday.

Asian gas and oil markets represent a major portion of Premier’s future growth potential to 75,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2010 from 42,800 last year, said Robin Allan, the firm’s Asia director, at an industry conference in Singapore.

“Twelve to 14 exploration and appraisal wells are already planned in 2012,” Allan said. It was not clear whether all of those wells would be in Southeast Asia.

The Chim Sao offshore oilfield, which has reserves of more than 50 million barrels, was expected to produce around 25,000 barrels per day of crude similar to Vietnam’s light sweet Bach Ho grade.

In Indonesia, first gas at the 100 million cubic metre per day Gajah Baru gas field was seen in October, three months later than initially expected.

Premier has a 53 percent equity stake in Chim Sao field and a 29 percent holding in Gajah Baru. – Reuters

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