Xcite says development plan changes a more "financially efficient" way of unlocking Bentley's value

Xcite Energy (LON:XEL, CVE:XEL) said the changes to its field development plan provide a “viable and more financially efficient” means of commercialising the Bentley North Sea oil field.

The comments were made in a shareholder update in which the group also said it is optimistic it will be able to convert 87 million barrels of contingent resources to the higher confidence proved and probable (2P) category.

This will occur once the Department of Energy and Climate Change has given the sign-off for the Bentley field development plan.

The upgrade would give Xcite 115 million barrels of 2P reserves.

“We had hoped, and remain optimistic, that this response will be received shortly and that the field development update could have been made in conjunction with the announcement of a number of other important events for the company in the coming weeks,” Xcite said.

Today’s statement followed an announcement on December 1 that revealed the company had “reconfigured its approach” to the development of the heavy oil discovery.

The planned first stage production programme for Bentley will be split into two parts - phases 1A and 1B.

As a result, the overall oil field development project will take marginally longer than previously thought to bring on stream.

The revised plan means that Xcite can still achieve first oil next year, as it originally planned, but phase 1B is set for 2013 and phase 2 is penciled in to start in 2016.

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