Venture Production 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.

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."

Tags: Venture Production plc