VPC Venture Prod.

RNS Number:2342I
Venture Production PLC
23 November 2007


23 November, 2007

                             VENTURE PRODUCTION plc

                           Completion of GKA Pipeline


Venture Production plc ("Venture"), the Aberdeen headquartered UK independent
oil and gas production company, today announces that the new export pipeline
linking the Kittiwake platform to the Forties Pipeline System ("FPS") has been
successfully completed and is now fully operational.

The new 10 inch, 33km pipeline has the capacity to flow up to 40,000 barrels of
oil per day ("bopd") and will process production from all the fields in the
Greater Kittiwake Area ("GKA"), a central North Sea oil production hub operated
and 50% owned by Venture.

Replacing the existing shuttle tanker and loading buoy system for oil export,
the new pipeline is expected to substantially improve operational uptime, lower
overall operating costs and allow GKA field life to be extended. It links the
Kittiwake platform to BP's Unity platform and the decision to invest in this new
piece of North Sea infrastructure reflects Venture's confidence that the GKA
fields will continue to produce economic volumes for at least another decade.
These volumes include current production from the existing Kittiwake, Mallard,
Gadwall and Goosander fields as well as potential production from the Grouse
field where an appraisal has been successfully drilled. In addition, as yet
undeveloped discoveries including the Christian and Bligh fields may also
benefit from the new export route.

Commenting on the news, Mike Wagstaff, Chief Executive of Venture said:

"I would like to thank and commend the team involved in completing this major
construction project. It was delivered on time and, despite some very difficult
offshore operating conditions due to the weather this summer, close to the
original budget. This new pipeline is a major step forward in the optimisation
of performance from the GKA fields. Since taking over operatorship in late 2003,
through a series of successful rejuvenation projects and new wells we have
lifted gross production potential from around 5,000 bopd to over 30,000 bopd
today. However, up until now, unavoidable restrictions as a result of using
shuttle tankers and the old seabed storage system have held us back from being
able to maximise production from these fields. We can now press ahead with the
further development of the Kittiwake area with increased confidence and I look
forward to seeing production from this hub continuing well beyond 2015."


Contact

Mike Wagstaff, Chief Executive
Jon Murphy, Chief Operating Officer
Rod Begbie, Corporate Development Director                     01224 619 000

Patrick Handley, Brunswick                                     0207 404 5959
John MacDonald, Weber Shandwick (Scottish Press)               01224 806 600


Notes to Editors:

Greater Kittiwake Area ('GKA') Fields

    Field      Venture                      Status                              Planned Activity/Facilities
               Interest
Kittiwake (*)    50.0%               Producing oil field                Permanently manned platform, host facility
 Mallard (*)     50.0%               Producing oil field                             Sub-sea tie back
                                                                           Water injection well drilled 3Q 2006.
 Gadwall (*)     50.0%               Producing oil field                Sub-sea tie back - on stream in April 2005
                                                                        Water injection well drilled in early 2006
Goosander (*)    50.0%               Producing oil field                 Sub-sea tie back - on stream August 2006
                                                                       Potential water injection well in 2008/9, if
                                                                                         required
  Grouse (*)     50.0%         Potential oil field development              Appraisal well successfully drilled
Christian (*)    50.0%            Undeveloped oil discovery               Medium-term development well candidate
    Bligh        20.8%       Undeveloped gas condensate discovery       Longer term potential development candidate
  Durward /
Dauntless (*)    50.0%                  Decommissioned                 Potential re-development under consideration
                         - potential oil field re-development


Note : * indicates Venture is currently the field operator.


Background

Venture completed the acquisition of a 50% stake in the Greater Kittiwake in
November 2003 and became platform and field operator. Dana Petroleum plc
('Dana') purchased the remaining 50% of the field interests as part of the same
transaction. Since then Venture and Dana have made significant investments to
redevelop the established Kittiwake and Mallard oilfields and bring the Gadwall
and Goosander discoveries on stream. An appraisal well on the Grouse discovery
has been successfully drilled and development studies are ongoing for the
Christian and Bligh discoveries, both of which came from follow-on acquisitions.

Prior to the commissioning of the new pipeline, oil produced from the GKA fields
was exported to the point of sale via storage and shuttle tankers. This oil is
now exported to BP's Unity platform and then into the Forties Pipeline System.

The Pipeline

The GKA Pipeline is a 33 km long, 10 inch oil pipeline from the Kittiwake
platform to the Forties Pipeline System with the connection point at BP's Unity
platform. In addition to providing an export route for the existing and future
GKA Fields, the pipeline has been constructed such that third parties can either
tie-in directly at a number of subsea locations or, alternatively, access the
export route via the Kittiwake topsides facilities.

The Pipeline Construction Team

The principal parties that were involved in this project were:

BP :                   managing the tie-in to the Unity platform
Venture Production :   managing the 10 inch pipelay and Kittiwake facilities 
                       upgrades
Subsea 7 :             sub-sea construction and the 10 inch pipelay
Petrofac :             Kittiwake platform topsides engineering
Wood Group :           Unity platform topsides engineering and construction

Pipeline Ownership

The new pipeline is owned by a separate entity in which Venture is a significant
minority shareholder. The construction work was funded with equity finance
raised from ArcLight Energy Partners Fund III and a #60 million debt facility
provided by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group and National Australia Bank. The
pipeline manager and operator is Venture Production North Sea Oil Limited, a
wholly owned subsidiary of Venture Production plc.



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