Premier Awards Sea Lion Platform FEED Contract to AMEC

Premier Oil, operator of the Sea Lion field in the North Falkland Basin, has formally awarded the tension leg platform (TLF) front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract to oilfield engineering firm AMEC, Rockhopper Exploration reported Friday.

Rockhopper, which holds a 40-percent interest in Sea Lion, said that activities on the Sea Lion project continue to progress. As well as the functional specification and basis of the TLP design being finalized and the award of the FEED contract, a geotechnical survey will be performed over the Sea Lion location during the second half of the year. Results from this survey will be incorporated into the FEED process, which is expected to take around 12 months to complete.

Rockhopper CEO Sam Moody commented in a company statement:

"We are delighted that the FEED contract for the Sea Lion field has been formally awarded to a world class engineering firm such as AMEC. This is a highly significant milestone in our plans to develop the discovery and comes on the back of our recent announcement that a rig has been signed to undertake a new exploration drilling campaign in the North Falkland Basin early next year. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Premier as we move the Sea Lion project towards final investment decision."