MAERSK Oil has said the giant Culzean field in the North Sea will be a key driver of growth as the company underlined how pleased it is with progress on the development.

However, the Danish oil and gas heavyweight highlighted significant uncertainty about the outlook for the crude price, which could deter firms from investing in the North Sea.

Announcing a 14 per cent increase in second quarter underlying profits, Maersk Oil gave a glowing assessment of the prospects for the Culzean development 145 miles east of Aberdeen, one of the biggest sanctioned in the North Sea for years.

Chief executive Gretchen Watkins described progress on Culzean as world class.

“Execution performance on our North Sea projects provides confidence that we will deliver

these key drivers of growth safely, within budget and on schedule,” said Ms Watkins.

She noted Maersk expects to generate significant amounts of cash from Culzean and the Johan Sevrdup field off Norway after they come onstream.

First gas is timetabled for 2019.

The success achieved by Maersk on Culzean to date may provide a boost to sentiment in the North Sea as firms grapple with the fourth year of the downturn triggered by the sharp fall in the crude price since 2014.

Sector watchers hope more North Sea projects might get the go ahead following moves by firms that operate fields to squeeze costs out of the supply chain and signs the oil market may be stabilising.

Maersk noted second quarter profits were boosted by its ongoing efforts to cut costs and the partial recovery in crude prices since November.

The company said: “Operational efficiency, portfolio and organisational optimisation have enabled Maersk Oil to target a breakeven oil price for 2017 onwards, excluding Qatar, of $40-45 per barrel.”

Moves by Opec members to cut production to support the market first agreed in November encouraged a rally in crude prices.

However, this appears to have run out of steam following increases in output in US shale areas.

The parent AP Moller Maersk shipping group said it seemed likely the global excess of stocks would extend into 2018. It warned: “Significant uncertainty remains in the oil price outlook.”

Maersk Oil made $478 million profit before interest and tax in the second quarter compared with $419m in the same period last year.

Production averaged 284,000 barrels oil equivalent daily against 331,000 boed last time.

Maersk noted production rates from mature UK fields fell.

The group has producing assets in a range of countries including the US and Algeria. It exited Qatar In July after losing the contract to run the giant Al-Shaheen oil field last year.

Brent crude traded at $50.15/bbl yesterday.