Premier Oil Plc News

Ocean Rig UDW Inc., a global provider of offshore deepwater drilling services, announced  that two of its drilling contracts have been terminated. The Nasdaq-listed drilling affiliate of DryShips said that Total E&P Congo has terminated its long-term charter of the ultra-deepwater drillship Ocean Rig Apollo, which is currently deployed in Congo and will be demobilised “in due course”. As per the contract Ocean Rig is entitled to a termination fee that varies from 50% to 95% of the operating daily rate that will be payable over the balance of the contract. The Ocean Rig Apollo will demobilize from Congo in due course and is available for alternative employment.

SBM Offshore announced it has been awarded a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract from Premier Oil plc for an FPSO for Phase 1 of its Sea Lion development in the North Falkland Basin. The 18-month contract awarded to SBM Offshore covers the FEED elements of the proposed FPSO. The asset will be a converted FPSO with a throughput capacity of approximately 85,000 barrels per day and will operate in 450 meters of water. The proposed Phase 1 Sea Lion project, operated by Premier with Rockhopper Exploration plc as the JV partner, is located 220 kilometers north of the Falkland Islands. This first phase is subject to final investment decision targeted for the end of the FEED in the second half of 2017.

SBM Offshore informed that Premier Oil plc (Premier) has awarded the Company the Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) contract for an FPSO for Phase 1 of its Sea Lion development in the North Falkland Basin. The 18-month contract awarded to SBM Offshore covers the FEED elements of the proposed FPSO. The asset will be a converted FPSO with a throughput capacity of approximately 85,000 barrels per day and will operate in 450 meters of water. The proposed Phase 1 Sea Lion project, operated by Premier with Rockhopper Exploration plc as the JV partner, is located 220 kilometers north of the Falkland Islands. This first phase is subject to final investment decision targeted for the end of the FEED in the second half of 2017.

Teekay LNG Partners L.P. announced changes to Teekay LNG’s board of directors. Jane Hinkley has been appointed to the chairmanship position succeeding C. Sean Day, who will remain a director of Teekay LNG and chairman of the partnership’s sponsor, Teekay Corporation. Hinkley has been a director of Teekay LNG for over 10 years and has management and board experience in the shipping and oil and gas industry, including serving as the managing director of Navion Shipping AS, and chief financial officer and managing director of Gotaas-Larsen Shipping Corporation, and currently serves on the board of directors of Premier Oil plc and Vesuvius plc.

Britain said on Thursday it had summoned the Argentine ambassador to explain the latest war of words over the disputed Falkland Islands which included a threat to prosecute British energy firms operating in the area. Last week, Premier Oil Plc and Falkland Oil and Gas Ltd said they had made an oil and gas discovery at a well off the south Atlantic islands, the first in a nine-month drilling campaign. Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez called the announcement "almost provocative", and Argentine officials warned they were planning legal action against oil firms operating near the Falklands, which lie 300 miles off the Argentine coast and 8,000 miles from Britain.

According to a July 20 report from Bloomberg,Premier Oil Plc, the U.K. explorer operating in Europe, Asia and Africa, bought Delek Energy Systems Ltd. out of an offshore project in Vietnam. (Source: Bloomberg.com)