Up to 70 offshore jobs have been secured after energy and services company Centrica announced that it will drill a new production well at the Chestnut field off the Aberdeen coast.

This will extend the life of the field, which otherwise would have been shut later this year. Chestnut’s current production from two existing wells is just under 4,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The new well, which will be drilled by Paragon’s MSS1 semi-submersible rig in the autumn, is forecast to bring another 10,000 barrels per day on stream.

Nigel MacLean, Centrica’s asset manager for the Central North Sea, said: “Chestnut has been an important part of our North Sea portfolio for nearly 10 years, so we’re delighted to not only boost production from the field but also extend its life even further.

“Fields like Chestnut underline the importance of maximising the potential of as many North Sea fields as possible, whether they be major finds or small pools.”

The Chestnut field investment has been described by operations director Gunther Newcombe at the Government-run Oil & Gas Authority as “a great example of the OGA and industry’s shared objective of delivering maximised economic recovery for the UK”.