The market has had three concerns in the past over Premier Oil. One is the level of debt, still at $2.6 billion. The second is the Solan field in the North Sea. This, after seemingly endless delays, is finally producing at about 11,000 barrels a day and is set to go to 20,000 once the second well there is up and running.
The third is the huge Sea Lion project off the Falklands. The expected cost of this has now fallen below $2 billion, helped by sliding costs in the oil industry generally that are benefiting Premier and other explorers. Sea Lion is the subject of preliminary engineering studies that should run until next year, when, depending on where the oil price is, Premier