Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 9598H
Venture Production plc
12 November 2008

12th November 2008

Venture Production plc

In accordance with the UK Listing Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules, Venture Production plc is today publishing its Interim
Management Statement in respect of the period from 1st July 2008 to 11th November 2008.

It has been a very active period of field development activity. Highlights include:

* First oil from the Chestnut field (Venture - 69.9%) which came on stream during late September. Initial production rates have
averaged 8,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day ("boepd") net to Venture from the first production well.
* Successful drilling and completion of the second Chestnut production well (P2) which tested at a facilities constrained production
rate of approximately 9,000 boepd. The well is awaiting final tie-in which is expected to take place early in 2009.
* The completion of the Ceres (formerly Barbarossa) (Venture - 90%) appraisal well with flow rates tested at 40 million standard
cubic feet per day per day ("MMcfpd"). Field development plan approval was also received for the Ceres and Eris (formerly Channon) gas
fields.
* The development well for the Stamford gas field (Venture - 100%) has recently been successfully drilled and completed. The well
was tested at a flow rate in excess of 20 MMcfpd and is awaiting final tie-in and commissioning over the coming weeks subject to weather and
operational constraints.
* The Grouse development project (Venture - 50%) is also nearing completion and the field is awaiting final tie-in and
commissioning.

As at 11th November 2008, Group average production for the year to date has been approximately 43,500 boepd. As expected, this is
slightly lower than in the first half of the year due to the impact of planned annual maintenance shut-downs on our facilities during the
summer period.

Prior to the recently announced shut-down on Kittiwake, our expectations for the full year average production were in the range 45,000
boepd �1,000 boepd with the key uncertainties being timing of start up of production from Grouse, Stamford and the Mallard workover. We are
provisionally estimating a loss of approximately 1,000 boepd from the unplanned Kittiwake shutdown. At this stage this can only be a
preliminary estimate as investigations are going to assess the likely timing of the restoration of production. In addition, if the platform
remains shut down through to the end of December it will delay the benefit of the new Grouse well and the Mallard workover into 2009.
Venture's balance sheet remains strong, with significant cash and cash equivalents in excess of $300 million currently and a fully
committed but as yet undrawn �365 million five year syndicated corporate bank facility. There has been no significant change to the
financial position of the Company since the publication of the Report and Accounts in respect of the year ended 31 December 2007.

Our business development activities continue to expand the asset portfolio and in the last four months we have announced the acquisition
of:
* Operated interests in two additional gas discoveries offshore the Netherlands
* Additional interests in the key Cygnus, Copernicus, Kepler and Humphrey gas discoveries to take our interest in each field to
48.75%.

Prior to the inclusion of these latest acquisitions an independent reserves and contingent resources evaluation carried out by DeGolyer
& MacNaughton estimated Venture's net UK Proven and Probable reserves as 215 million barrels of oil equivalent ("MMboe") of which just under
64% is gas.

In summary, Venture has made good progress on its development projects in a challenging operational environment. While global oil prices
have weakened significantly over the last few months, the majority of Venture's production is gas. UK gas prices currently remain higher
than last year and we have a hedging position that protects a material proportion of our near-term production. As a result, Venture is
continuing to benefit from strong cash flow generation from existing production and, with strong financial resources, the Board remains
confident in the outlook for Venture's business.

END

Contact

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

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

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

END

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