BW Offshore's FPSO Catcher to be on full day rates from Q3 after lower Q2 -CEO

OSLO, May 30 (Reuters) -

** Chief Executive Carl Arnet in FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading) firm BW Offshore Ltd says testing carried out on the Catcher field project in the British North Sea will impact the company's day rates negatively in Q2

** BW Offshore expects to record a one-off negative impact on the second quarter 2018 EBITDA in the range of $15 million-$20 million, reflecting Catcher delays, as announced previously

** CEO expects Catcher unit, which started production in December last year, to earn full day rates from start of Q3

** "That is definitely our intention," Arnet said while presenting Q1 earnings on Wednesday

** BW Offshore has earlier said the Catcher unit will add about $200 mln in annual EBITDA

** The Catcher field, which is owned by Premier Oil (LSE: PMO.L - news) , Cairn Energy and Mol Group, reached plateau production above 60,000 barrels of oil per day in mid-May

** BW Offshore Q1 EBITDA came in at $108.5 mln, slightly weaker than analysts had expected (Reporting by Ole Petter Skonnord, editing by Terje Solsvik)