Premier Oil, a UK-based oil and gas company, has decided to resign as the operator of the Bagpuss joint venture, operating the Licence p.1943 in the UK North Sea.

The news was revealed on Friday, by one of the partners, North Sea Energy Inc. which said that Premier was resigning from the operator position with the effective date of December 31, 2016.

“Premier have confirmed that they will work with the new Operator to assure a smooth transfer of responsibilities,” North Sea Energy said.

In addition, the partner said that Premier has agreed in principle to sell its 40.1% working interest in the Bagpuss JV to Reach Halibut Limited subject to approval by the JV partners and regulatory consent from the OGA.

The current ownership of the block is as follows: Premier Oil plc 40.1%; Maersk Oil North Sea UK Limited 25.0%; North Sea Energy 15.0%; EnCounter Oil 13.27%; Groliffe Limited 6.63%.

Reasons for Premier Oil’s decision to sell, have not yet been disclosed. Offshore Energy Today has reached out to Premier seeking more info. We will update the article if we get a response.

The company in August said that the 13/25-1 well, which was targeting the Bagpuss prospect encountered 41 feet of hydrocarbon-bearing sands within a 68 feet hydrocarbon column, in line with pre-drill estimates. The indications were that the oil was heavy. The well was drilled using Diamond Offshore’s Ocean Valiant semi-sub offshore drilling rig

Robin Allan, Premier’s Director of Exploration and North Sea, at the time said: “The Bagpuss well has proven a significant volume of oil in place. We will now work with our partners to carry out a full analysis of the hydrocarbons and reservoir encountered to ascertain whether commerciality can be established.”

Source: www.offshoreenergytoday.com