A large hike in production sent London-listed explorer Premier Oil to a record set of half-year results in the first six months.

New fields coming onstream in Indonesia and Vietnam helped boost average production to 58,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 36,900 boepd in the comparable period a year earlier.

Premier also pointed to strong production levels from existing fields in the UK, Pakistan and Indonesia as key to the production hike.

Net profit for the six months to the end of June hit $145.8 million from $88.5 million a year earlier.

The main reason was a jump in revenues from $342.2 million to $744.3 million. The cost of sales rose from $200.3 million to $393.9 million.

Premier was able to take a tax bill of $48.8 million whereas it had a positive tax sum of $56 million a year earlier which buoyed its bottom line at the time.

The company expects full-year average production of around 60,000 boepd, a 49% year-on-year hike.

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