VPC Venture Prod.

RNS Number:2886K
Venture Production PLC
20 December 2007


20 December, 2007


                             VENTURE PRODUCTION plc


                 Sevan Hummingbird FPSO Towed To Chestnut Field


Venture Production plc ("Venture"), the Aberdeen based UK independent oil and
gas production company, today announces that the Sevan Hummingbird floating
production, storage and offtake unit ("FPSO") has reached its location over the
Chestnut oil field.


The vessel left the Keppel Verolme shipyard in Rotterdam on 15 December and has
since been towed onto location and anchored in UKCS Block 22/2a in the central
North Sea. This block contains the Chestnut field in which Venture has a 69.875%
interest and is the field operator.


The Hummingbird is the second Sevan 300 unit to be built and the first
cylindrical FPSO to be deployed in the North Sea. It is contracted to Venture
for an initial firm two and a half year contract but Venture has the option of
at least four six month extension periods. It will stay on location until the
Chestnut field ceases production but will then be available to Venture for
re-use on a follow on project. The vessel's moorings were pre-laid earlier this
year and work will commence shortly to install the production riser and complete
final commissioning of the vessel ahead of production. First oil production is
currently anticipated around the end of the first quarter of 2008.


Chestnut has net recoverable reserves estimated at 6.5 million barrels of oil
equivalent ("MMboe") and is expected to commence production at net rates of
around 9,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day ("boepd").

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


"This is another important milestone for Venture. The Hummingbird is an
innovative re-usable flexible and low cost solution specifically designed to
enable the development of remotely located stranded oil reserves. As well as a
cost effective solution for Chestnut, it provides us with the option to redeploy
it elsewhere in our portfolio in circumstances where a low cost floating
production unit can deliver a more attractive return on capital than a
conventional sub-sea tie back or ship-shaped unit."

                                      ENDS

Contact:


Mike Wagstaff, Chief Executive

John Murphy, Chief Operating Officer

Rod Begbie, Corporate Development Director           01224 619000


Patrick Handley, Brunswick                           020 7404 5959

John MacDonald, Weber Shandwick (Scottish press)     01224 806600


Notes to Editors:


Chestnut Field


-  The Chestnut field is one of the oldest undeveloped oil fields in
   the North Sea having been discovered in 1986


-  Chestnut lies approximately 180km east of Aberdeen in a water depth
   of 120m and is 13km south east of the Alba oil field

-  The Chestnut field partners are:

   * Venture Production plc (Operator) - 69.875%

   * Bow Valley Petroleum (UK) Limited - 15.125%

   * Atlantic Petroleum UK Limited - 15.000%


-  Venture acquired an initial 5.0% interest in Chestnut in 2001 and
   increased its stake to 69.875% through further acquisitions in 2002 and 2003


-  FDP approval for Chestnut was obtained in late 2005 for a single
   production well development with water injector support


-  The production well (22/2a-11x) was drilled and tested at rates of
   between 10,000 and 15,000 barrels of oil per day ("bopd") in 2001 by the
   previous operator


-  The extended well test lasted for approximately four months and
   around 1 million barrels of oil were produced before it was shut-in


-  The water injector well (22/2a-12) was drilled by Venture in
   mid-2006 and showed pressure communication with the original production well


-  Studies are ongoing to evaluate the opportunity to drill a second
   production well to increase recoverable reserves and extend the field life


Sevan Hummingbird


-  The Sevan Hummingbird hull was constructed at the Yantai Raffles
   Shipyard in China. The unit was then moved to Keppel Verolme Shipyard in
   Rotterdam, Holland where the outfitting and assembly of the processing plant
   took place.


-  The platform is a Sevan 300 FPSO with an oil storage capacity of
   270,000 bbls. The unit can carry up to 3 risers and umbilicals and will have 
   an oil processing capacity of 30,000 barrels of oil per day and a water 
   injection capacity of 20,000 barrels of water per day.


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END
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