Serica Energy PLC on Tuesday said production at its Triton floating production storage and offloading unit has been interrupted following a fault with the single gas compressor in operation.

The North Sea-focused oil and gas firm said its full-year production guidance is now expected to be slightly below the 41,000 to 46,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day forecast earlier this month.

The guidance had been dependent on sustained production levels of around 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent in the fourth quarter, which it no longer believes to be likely.

The potential dry gas seal failure during operations was identified on Sunday. It did not result in any leak of hydrocarbons and the necessary repairs are being carried out.

The company plans to install a second compressor on the Triton FPSO in the first quarter of 2025 to reduce any further ‘operational vulnerability’ in the future.

It said production from its other assets are all still in line with expectations, and that the average month to date market gas price is 97.9 pence per therm, which is ‘the strongest so far in 2024’.

Serica Energy is due to issue a trading update in mid-November, at which point production on the Triton FPSO is expected to have resumed, as well as added production from the Gannet GE-05 well in the North Sea.

Shares in Serica Energy were down 0.2% at 127.10 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.

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