06-10-09 Cirrus Energy has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary in the Netherlands, Cirrus Energy Nederland has commenced commercial production from the L8-D field.
The producing well, L11b-A06, was drilled in early 2009 into the L8-D field from the L11b-A production platform which was acquired by Cirrus and the L8-D Group on August 1, 2009. The platform has been subsequently refurbished by TAQA Offshore who is managing production operations on behalf of the L8-D Group.

The L8-D field area has been unitised and equity interest partners in the L8-D Group are Cirrus (operator) 25.479 %), TAQA Offshore 15 %), TAQA Licenses Offshore 2.88 %, Energy06 Investments 1.341 %, EWE 13.4 % and EBN 41.900 %.
The L11b-A06 well commenced production on October 4, 2009 and is currently producing at a constrained gross rate of 32.8 mm cfpd although production rates of 37.3 mm cfpd have been tested.

The price received for Dutch gas is based on a basket of alternative energy sources and historically has closely followed that of crude oil with a lag of about 6 months. The realised price for L8-D equivalent quality gas in September 2009 was C$ 8.00 per tcf relating to average Brent prices of approx. $ 45.00 per barrel in March 2009. At a Brent oil price of $ 70.00 per barrel, the future realised price for L8-D gas is expected to be over C$ 9.50 per tcf.
The second appraisal/development well on the L8-D field is currently being drilled from the L11b-A platform using the Nobel Lynda Bossler jackup drilling rig. This well, L11b-A07, is expected to be completed in December 2009.

M7-A Field (Cirrus 42.75 % and operator)
Production from the M7-A field has recently been stable at a constrained rate of 23.5 mm cfpd which is the maximum allowable under the processing agreement with the operator of the L9-FF processing platform. Since production start on September 12, 2009, the M7-A platform and infrastructure has performed to design specification with close to 100 % up time.
Cirrus President and CEO David Taylor comments, "The start-up of the L8-D Field is a significant achievement for Cirrus coming less than a month after start-up of the M7-A field. It is also noteworthy that first production from the L8-D field has been achieved just eight months after the testing and completion of the L11b-A06 well. This achievement underscores our business strategy in the Netherlands which is to establish Cirrus as the pre-eminent junior company in the offshore Dutch gas basin."