OSLO (Thomson Financial) - Norwegian oil and gas producer PA Resources reported total production in the first quarter of 1.086 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) - down from 1.386 million in the fourth quarter - but up from 637,000 boe for the first quarter in 2007.
Average oil production per day during the quarter was 11,930 barrels per day, the company said in a statement, down from 15,066 barrels in Q4 but up from 7,082 boe in the first quarter last year.
Oil sales during the latest quarter totaled 1.272 million boe and the average sales price was $96.61 a barrel.
That compared with the fourth quarter's sales of 1.117 million boe on an average price of $85.48 a barrel.
'Oil has been sold at quarterly record high average sales price of $96.61 per barrel, compared with $85.48 for the fourth quarter,' PA Resources said.
Production of oil increased, year-on-year, with the start-up of the Volve field in Norway and the El Bibane field in Tunisia, from two geographical areas and seven fields.
The Volve field started production in mid-February and the El Bibane field at the end of March.
'(With) these important events the production increased in the end of the quarter and the production level was approximately 13,800 barrels of oil per day by the end of March,' PA Resources said.
The average production for March 2008 was 12,070 barrels per day.
The company added that in order to install the drilling rig and start the drilling at the Didon field in Tunisia, production was turned off for safety reasons for three days.
In March, the production on Didon was reduced with approximately 3,600 barrels per day, over a period of 15 days in order to install new process equipment.
Production at the Didon field was at 97 percent for the period March 2008, PA Resources added.
Via [Forbes]
