Dana Petroleum says that first oil production has successfully commenced from the Ettrick field, located in blocks 20/2a & 20/3a of the UKCS.

The Ettrick field development was approved by the UK authorities in July 2006. Six wells were subsequently drilled between March 2007 and March 2009. The field is being produced via the leased "Aoka Mizu" FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading) vessel, which is designed to handle 30,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and 35 million cubic feet of gas per day. Over the next few months the field is expected to produce at rates of up to 20,000 bopd (2,400 bopd net to Dana) as the wells are tied into production.

Tom Cross, Dana's Chief Executive said, "Ettrick start-up adds to Dana's oil production in one of our core areas, and brings Dana's total number of producing fields to 35. The outlook for the upstream oil industry is now considerably better than at the point of the Bow Valley acquisition in April 2009, and development of Ettrick is in line with Dana's strategy of growing reserves and production through both exploration and acquisition."

Tags: Dana Petroleum