Premier: Catcher Project on Track for December Oil

Premier Oil-operated Catcher project has remained on schedule for first oil during December.

Following the arrival of the FPSO on October 18, the production buoy was successfully pulled into the hull, the company said.

In the subsequent period the full hook-up process has been essentially finished with the risers, umbilicals and the installation of the ESDVs now complete.

The swivel stack is in place and the geostationary pipework connected with the final rotation test due imminently, Premier said.

Testing of the offloading interface with the cargo tanker is also underway.

Commissioning activities including the running of main power generation, chemical bunkering, system filling, shutdown system testing and system leak testing, which started in parallel are ongoing and will be ready for the introduction of hydrocarbons from the Catcher field shortly, the company noted.

The development drilling programme continues ahead of schedule. The 12 wells, eight producers and four injectors, originally planned pre-first oil have been drilled, completed and tied back to the FPSO and drilling activities on Phase 2 of the Catcher development wells are ongoing.