VPC Venture Prod.

    RNS Number : 7133K
  Venture Production plc
  29 December 2008
   

    29 December 2008

    VENTURE PRODUCTION plc

    First Oil from Venture-operated Grouse Field

    Venture Production plc ("Venture" or "the Company"), the Aberdeen headquartered UK independent oil and gas production company, today
announces that it has successfully brought the Grouse oil field into production. Venture has a 50% working interest in the field and is the
operator. 

    The Grouse field lies in Block 21/19 and has been developed via a single subsea production well tied back to the Venture-operated
Kittiwake platform, the production hub for the Company's Greater Kittiwake Area ("GKA") operations. Initial well productivity is in line
with previous estimates of around 5,000  barrels of oil equivalent per day ("boepd") net to Venture.

    The pipeline required for the Grouse field was laid at the same time as that required for the Chestnut and Stamford fields, both of
which have also come into production during 2008 and this highly efficient single campaign approach has delivered significant development
cost savings. As a further element of operational efficiency and forward planning, Grouse has also made use of a pipeline tie-in point that
was pre-installed during the construction of the Goosander infrastructure in 2006. The Venture-operated Goosander field also lies in the GKA
production hub and came into production in August 2006. 

    In addition to the success of bringing the new Grouse field on stream, the Mallard field was also returned to production in
mid-December.

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

    "I'm delighted to be able to announce that Grouse is the third new GKA satellite we have brought into production since taking over
operatorship five years ago. Notably, alongside Chestnut and Stamford it is also the third new field that Venture has developed into
production during 2008 and that means we've brought more fields into production this year than almost any other North Sea operator. We
continue to work through our deep inventory of lower risk projects as well as replenishing that inventory through acquisition, with eleven
new deals announced this year alone. Venture is now capitalising on the operational momentum and balance sheet strength created over the
last few years and we look forward to continuing to grow and develop the business."

    ENDS
      Contact:

    Mike Wagstaff, Chief Executive
    Jon 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:
    * The P0238 licence covering Block 21/19 was awarded in the 4th UK Offshore Licensing Round in 1972
    * GKA, including the Grouse field, was acquired by Venture and Dana Petroleum ("Dana") in April 2003 from Shell UK Limited ("Shell"),
the previous operator, and Esso Exploration and Production UK Limited ("Esso") 
    * Venture operates the Grouse field and has a 50% working interest with Dana holding the remaining 50%
    * The GKA production hub also includes the Mallard and Gadwall fields
    * An appraisal well in the Grouse field was successfully drilled and tested in November 2007 at rates of over 10,000 boepd gross on a
restricted choke



    

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