Premier Oil: 1H profit rises to $172.7M

Premier Oil, an independent oil and gas company based in the UK, reported profit after tax for the first half of 2014 increased to $172.7 million versus $161.1 million a year ago.

The company says that the achievement reflects the strong performance of its producing fields and tax credits associated with its UK operations offset by impairment charges in the UK and an accounting loss on the sale of Block A Aceh, Indonesia.

Group production on a working interest basis averaged 64.9 kboepd in the first half of 2014 compared to 58.6 kboepd in the first half of 2013 and 58.2 kboepd for the full-year 2013.

Premier Oil has has explained that this reflects stable underlying performance from existing producing assets in Indonesia, Vietnam and Pakistan, and an increase in excess of 50 per cent in production from the UK, mainly due to a full contribution from the Rochelle and Huntington fields. Entitlement production for the period was 59.8 kboepd (2013: 53.1 kboepd).

In its 1H 2014 statement Premier has said that the combined effect of significantly higher production and stable realised prices saw a 17 per cent increase in sales revenues to US$884.7 million (2013: US$757.8 million).