Premier Oil Withdraw from PLC Block L10A in Kenya

Premier Oil has withdrawn from Block L10A offshore Kenya after a review into exploration activities.

The FTSE 250 firm, which held a 20% equity stake in Block L10A, announced the decision on Monday following the acquisition of the interest back in 2011.

It has held on to its 25% ownership in the adjacent Block L10B, with a so-called ‘drill or drop’ decision expected by mid-2014. L10B is joint owned with BG Group(45%), PTTEP (15%) and Pancontinental Oil & Gas (15%).

“Whilst we remain committed to exploration in Kenya, we continue to focus our resources on projects that meet our internal corporate investment metrics and to high grade our exploration portfolio accordingly,” said Premier ‘s Chief Executive Simon Lockett.

The company in October revised its production guidance for the full year to a rate of 57,000-59,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day (boepd), down from its previous target of 63,000boepd. This was due to gas export issues at Chim Sáo in Vietnam and the CATS pipeline system in UK; these issues are due to be resolved shortly.

The year-end exit rate is expected to be around 65,000boepd.

The stock was down 0.27% at 300p in early trading on Monday.

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