Cairn Energy today said it was in a strong position thanks to two NorthSea start-ups.

In its operational update, chief executive Simon Thomson committed to a“sustained drilling campaign” in the UK and Norway in the wake of its Krakenand Catcher development success.

He said: “Over the last twelve months, Cairn has achieved severalstrategic milestones and is well positioned to deliver on its strategy in 2018.Both the Kraken and Catcher developments in the UK North Sea have deliveredfirst oil production. In Senegal, Cairn completed a successful third phase ofdrilling with the joint venture now targeting development approval for theworld class SNE field by the end of 2018.

 First oil from the Catcher Area developmentwas successfully delivered in late December. It’s expected to peak at60,000bopd in the first half of this year.

First oil from Kraken wasachieved in the first half of last year. It’s expected to ramp up to 50,000bopd by the end of this year with Cairn banking between 17,000 to 20,000 bopdfrom a combined Catcher and Kraken production by the middle of this year.

Cairn offloaded its first Krakencargo of ~386,000 barrels in the fourth quarter of last year, recording revenueof $20million.