Venture Announces Appointment of Non-Executive Directors

Venture Production plc is pleased to announce the appointment of two additional non-executive directors, Thomas Ehret and Thomas Blades, to the Venture Board with effect from 16th March 2006.

Thomas Ehret is Chief Executive Officer of Acergy SA, a leading offshore contractor to the oil and gas industry. Previously he was Vice Chairman of the management board of Technip and President of its offshore branch. A well recognised figure in the offshore and subsea sector where he has over 30 years experience, 20 of which in management positions, Tom has been instrumental in several industry shaping moves.

Tom trained as a mechanical engineer and started his career as an R&D engineer before moving into project management. He has held a variety of positions, both technical and commercial, for several leading offshore engineering and construction companies. A French citizen, Tom has worked in France, the USA and the UK.

Thomas Blades is Chief Executive Officer of CHOREN Industries, a German technology company, currently a world leader in the conversion of biomass to synthetic liquid fuels. Prior to this he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Spectro, a specialised manufacturer in the global analytical instruments industry. In recent years his achievements have included major improvements in corporate performance through strategic re-engineering and implementation of value building strategies.

A Chartered Electrical Engineer by profession, Tom spent most of his formative years with Schulumberger, the majority of which in senior management positions working in Germany, UK, Middle East, Iran and Brunei. Since then he has held the positions of Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Numar Corporation and, following its acquisition, Executive Vice President of Halliburton.

Commenting on the appointments, John Morgan, Chairman of Venture, said:

"We are delighted that both Tom Ehret and Tom Blades have agreed to join Venture's Board. Their respective backgrounds will further strengthen and broaden the management and technical experience on the Board as the Company embarks on its next phase of delivering value to our shareholders."

During the past five years Tom Ehret has been a director of Technip and still is a director of Acergy SA. Tom Blades continues to be CEO of CHOREN Industries, a director of Twister B.V. and in the past five years has been CEO / Chairman of Spectro Beteiligungs GmbH. There are no further disclosures to be made in relation to either Mr Ehret or Mr Blades under paragraphs LR 9.6.13 (2) - (6) of the Listing Rules.

Venture Announces Appointment of Non-Executive Directors

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