VPC Venture Prod.

RNS Number:8503L
Venture Production PLC
16 January 2008


16 January 2008


                            VENTURE PRODUCTION plc


         Acquisition of Bligh and Farm-in to Carna and Marram Interests


Venture Production plc ("Venture"), the Aberdeen headquartered UK independent
oil and gas production company, today announces that it has recently completed
transactions which deliver three additional asset interests. Two of these are on
existing Venture licences and the other is in a discovery in the East Irish Sea,
a new area for Venture's business development activity.


Bligh discovery - Block 21/20d (Venture 30.5%, operator)

Venture has increased its working interest in Block 21/20d, which contains the
Bligh gas condensate discovery, from 20.7% to 30.5% through an acquisition from
Shell EP Offshore Ventures Limited ("Shell"). Bligh was discovered in 1995 by
the 21/20a-5 well and a drill stem test carried out at the time flowed 2,750
bopd of 45.6 degrees API condensate and 15.4 million cubic feet of gas per day
("MMcfpd"). Recent detailed technical work has increased the expected
recoverable volumes by a factor of almost three times over those estimated in
2005 when Venture acquired its initial equity in the acreage and it is now
estimated that Bligh contains around 30 million barrels of oil equivalent
("boe") gross. Planning is underway to develop the field over the nearby
Venture-operated Kittiwake platform. As Bligh is a gas condensate accumulation,
additional topsides processing facilities will be required and various options
for this are being examined with a view toward achieving first production by
2013. Given the need for additional processing Bligh becomes a natural follow-on
project once the current oil fields producing across Kittiwake have reached the
tail-end of their productive life. If successful it will extend the life of the
platform by several years and create additional value for the owners of the
recently completed Kittiwake export pipeline.


Venture will become operator of Block 21/20d and two out of its three field
partners have also simultaneously completed transactions with Shell which
increase their equity pro-rata to Venture's additional interest. The
consideration was �286,000 paid in cash upon completion of the transaction,
prior to some minor adjustments for working capital.


Carna exploration prospect - Blocks 43/21b and 43/22c (Venture 56%, operator)

Through the recent completion of a farm-in agreement with Ithaca Energy Limited
("Ithaca"), Venture will increase its equity interest in the Carna exploration
prospect from 40% to 60% upon drilling of a well planned for Q4 2008 and payment
of an additional contribution to well costs over and above its pro-rata equity
share. Simultaneously Venture has agreed a swap of part of its interests in 43/
21b with part of EWE Aktiengesellschaft's interests in block 43/22c. As a result
of the two deals Venture's interest in the Carna prospect will increase from 40%
to 56%. Venture will also assume operatorship of both blocks and take control of
well planning and design.


Venture estimates that Carna contains between 85 and 200 billion cubic feet
("Bcf") of gross recoverable reserves and it was one of the principal near-term
opportunities identified as part of the acquisition of WHAM Energy announced in
August 2007.


Marram discovery - Blocks 110/4 and 110/9b (Venture 60%, operator)

Venture has reached agreement with Hannu Exploration' Limited ("Hannu"), a
wholly owned subsidiary of MPX Limited, to farm-in to 60% of its 100% equity in
Blocks 110/4 and 110/9b containing the Marram gas discovery in the Morecambe Bay
area of the East Irish Sea.


Venture's equity will be earned when an appraisal well is drilled as part of a
multi-operator campaign planned for the East Irish Sea during 2008 or 2009.
Marram is estimated to contain gross recoverable gas reserves of between 50 - 90
Bcf and lies within 25km of four potential off take routes. The discovery lies
on trend with both the producing Hamilton and Lennox fields and was established
by an 84 foot gas column of high quality Triassic reservoir proven through
exploration well 110/4-1 drilled in 1993. The blocks in which Venture will
acquire its interest also have exploration prospectivity and contain up to six
additional Sherwood Sandstone exploration leads.


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


"We are excited to have completed these three acquisitions - one adding
additional production potential to an existing production hub, one building upon
our exploration interests in the southern North Sea and one taking us into a
completely new region of the UK Continental Shelf. These new deals represent an
exciting addition to our business and provide both development inventory and
longer term production growth potential. Following a relatively quiet 2007 by
Venture's standards these new deals represent a strong start to our 2008
business development activity."


Contact


Mike Wagstaff, Chief Executive
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


Bligh (21/20d)

* Equity interests: Venture (30.5%), Dana Petroleum (30.5%), Noble Energy
 (19.0%), Oranje-Nassau Energie (20.0%)

* Gas-condensate discovery

* 1995 discovery well (21/20a-5) encountered Upper Jurassic Puffin and
  Middle Jurassic Pentland formations

* Discovery well successfully tested



Southern North Sea
Carna (43/21b and 43/22c)

* Venture 60% (operator), Ithaca Energy XXX, YYY

* Exploration prospect

* Venture first acquired a stake in Carna through its 2007
  acquisition of WHAM Energy plc

* Target is a horst structure in the Leman sandstone 10km to east
  of Garrow and 3km north of well 41/21-3

* Well planned for Q4 2008



East Irish Sea
Marram (110/4 and 110/9b)

* Equity interests: Venture 60% (operator), Hannu Exploration
  Limited (40%)

* The Marram gas discovery was made in 1993 by Ranger (well 110/
  4-1)

* The well encountered an 84' gas column in excellent quality
  Ormskirk sandstone

* Multiple export options to Liverpool Bay or Morecambe
  infrastructure

* Recoverable reserves range (unrisked) 20 - 122 Bcf with a most
  likely range of between 50 and 90 Bcf (Venture estimate)



Venture Production plc


* Venture Production plc is a FTSE 250 listed oil and gas producer
  based in Aberdeen with offices in London and Hoofddorp in the Netherlands.

* Market capitalisation over �1 billion

* Venture has production and development fields in both the UK and
  Dutch sectors of the North Sea.

* Venture will announce its preliminary results for 2007 on 18th
  March 2008




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

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