Premier Oil makes North Sea discovery

Premier said it had a strong start to 2013, with discoveries in the North Sea and Indonesia

Premier Oil has announced a discovery at its Bonneville exploration well and its side track in the North Sea, more than 150km offshore from Aberdeen.

The company said the reservoirs were of "excellent quality".

It estimated that the discovery contained approximately 30 million barrels of oil, which was in line with pre-drill predictions.

In addition, Premier said it had discovered gas in the Matang well in Indonesia.

It also said that testing of its Luno discovery in Norway had started.

Simon Lockett, chief executive of Premier, said: "We are delighted with the strong start to our 2013 exploration drilling programme with the previously announced discovery at Luno II and now the discoveries at Bonneville and Matang."

Premier has a 50% interest in the Bonneville well. Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy has a 30% stake and German oil and gas firm Wintershall has a 20% share.