Premier Oil’s Chief executive Tony Durrant confirmed Premier have “operatorship capability” and are well-positioned to take on more assets as opportunities arise.

Recently the likes of Chevron confirmed they are planning to divest their stakes in certain UK North Sea fields.

The London-listed firm is also benefiting from production from the Catcher field, which came on stream in December.

Catcher started consistently producing 60,000 barrels of oil per day in May, Premier said in a trading update. The firm has also completed the £17.3 million sale of its 30% stake in the Esmond Transportation System to Cats Management.

Meanwhile, the company’s board approved the Tolmount southern North Sea gas field development project in June with first gas is expected in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Production in the UK slipped by about 10% to 41,100 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day in the first half of the year, partly due to planned shutdowns at the Huntington and Solan fields.

Mr Durrant said Tolmount “will give us next the phase of growth”, adding: “Catcher has done well. It has been a good project.”