Premier Oil targets 1.1bn dollars for 2013 spend

Oil exploration and production company Premier Oil is targeting 1.1bn dollars in planned spend for 2013, up from the 730m dollars capital spending in 2012.

In a trading and operations update published by the group on Thursday morning, the company announced plans to spend $900m on development and a further $200m on exploration pre-tax.

The group reported net debt estimated at $1.1bn as of December 31st 2012, up from the $730m reported in the previous year. Gearing is expected to be 37%.

Total revenues for 2012 are expected to be in the order of $1.4bn, up from the $826.8m reported in 2011.

Pre-tax profits for the full year 2012 are expected to reflect an estimated $160m of exploration write-offs and a positive adjustment of around $10m in respect of the group's commodity hedge portfolio.

More drilling planned for 2013Over the course of 2013, the group plans to drill at least 14 wells targeting more than 200 mmboe of net unrisked prospective resource.

CEO: 'Significant increase in production expected' in 2013Simon Lockett, Chief Executive Officer at Premier Oil, commented: "2013 will be a busy year for Premier. After an increase of 43% in 2012, a further significant increase in production is expected during 2013. We are also building increasingly material exploration programme."

MF