BG starts projects in Bolivia, Egypt to boost output

BG Group Plc started projects in Bolivia, Egypt and Kazakhstan and said they will contribute to a “strong ramp up” in production next year.

BG together with partners agreed in July to expand the Margarita project in Bolivia. The company plans to invest about $414 million to pump more than 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent net to the company by 2014, it said today in a statement.

In Kazakhstan, it started a new unit at the Karachaganak field in June, which would enable BG and partners to export about 10.3 million tons of gas condensate a year. In Egypt, BG and partners agreed in May to invest in the West Delta Deep Marine Phase 8b development to expand production offshore the Nile Delta, the U.K. company said.

BG “continues to expect modest production growth in 2011, ahead of the strong ramp-up in production volumes which begins in 2012 and continues through the decade,” said the Reading- England based company.

The company has invested $4.4 billion in organic growth in the first half of the year, Chief Executive Officer Frank Chapman said in the statement. Oil and gas production in the second quarter increased 3 percent to 58.9 million barrels of oil equivalent (647,000 barrels a day) from the same period last year.