Premier Oil plc has announced that it has received approval of its Catcher area Field Development Plan (FDP) from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change.

The Premier-operated Catcher area, located in the UK Central North Sea, is expected to produce 96 million barrels of oil equivalent with a peak production rate of around 50,000 barrels of oil per day.

The project will entail the drilling of 22 subsea wells (14 producers and 8 water injectors) on the Catcher, Varadero and Burgman fields which will be tied back to a leased FPSO. The oil will be offloaded by tankers while the gas will be exported through the SEGAL facilities.

All major service contracts have been awarded and the project is now in the execution phase. First oil is targeted for mid-2017.

Michael Fallon, Minister of State for Energy, commented:
“The Catcher area development shows that there continues to be an extraordinary level of interest in North Sea oil and gas, which is excellent news for industry and for the whole of the UK. The project represents over £1bn of investment and almost all of the subsea expertise and equipment needed for this development is being supplied by British companies right across the country.”

Simon Lockett, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“Having discovered Catcher in 2010, we are extremely pleased to have brought the Catcher area through the development approval process. Once on-stream this project, which has been facilitated by the government’s small field allowances, will underpin our growing cash flows.”