First gas from Atlantic and Cromarty North Sea development reaches UK

First gas from Atlantic and Cromarty North Sea development reaches UK
Stock Exchange Announcement	5 June 2006

BG Group and Amerada Hess today announced that first gas has flowed from their jointly developed Atlantic and Cromarty fields in the Outer Moray Firth to the newly expanded ExxonMobil SAGE terminal at St Fergus.

The successful completion of this project, which only received DTI sanction in December 2003, is expected to achieve a plateau rate of 220 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd).

Mark Carne, BG Executive Vice President and Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia, said:

“The successful development of the Atlantic and Cromarty fields demonstrates BG’s ability to commercialise discoveries and maximise the recovery of hydrocarbons from the UKCS wherever possible.

“At a time of rising energy costs and increasing demand for gas it is essential that we make the most of our indigenous supplies. I am delighted that today we have delivered a new development that will make a valuable contribution to the UK’s energy needs.”

Robert Olsen, Chairman and Production Director, ExxonMobil International Limited said:

“We are pleased with the start-up of the Atlantic and Cromarty fields. Attracting such third party processing to the SAGE terminal at St Fergus has increased the utilisation of existing infrastructure. Production from the new development will provide an important contribution to UK gas supplies."

Notes to Editors:

BG Group plc is a global natural gas business. Active on five continents in over 20 countries, it operates four business segments – Exploration and Production, LNG, Transmission and Distribution and Power.

Interests in the Atlantic and Cromarty fields:

	BG	Amerada Hess
Atlantic	75% Operator	25%
Cromarty	10%	90% Operator

The fields lie 12.5 kilometres apart, approximately 80 kilometres north east of St Fergus in the Outer Moray Firth. The Atlantic field was discovered in 1997 and lies in licence block 14/26a. The Cromarty field was discovered in 1986 and lies in licence block 13/30a.

The gas will be fed to the SAGE terminal for processing via the longest direct to shore sub-sea tie-back constructed in the UK North Sea. The SAGE St Fergus terminal is operated by Mobil North Sea Limited (an ExxonMobil subsidiary). Once processed the gas will be fed into the National Transmission System.

The sub-sea facilities will be operated remotely from the control room at the St Fergus SAGE terminal via a satellite link to the Shell operated Goldeneye platform, and then via a 32 km sub-sea electro-hydraulic umbilical to the Atlantic and Cromarty fields.

BG Group operates the Armada, Maria and Seymour fields in the Central North Sea, the Blake and Atlantic fields in the Outer Moray Firth, and some of the Easington Catchment Area fields in the Southern North Sea (Neptune, Mercury, Minerva and Apollo).

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There are matters discussed in this media information that are forward looking statements. Such statements are only predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. For a discussion of important factors which could cause actual results to differ from the forward looking statements, refer to the Company's annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2005.

Cautionary note to US investors - The United States Securities and Exchange Commission permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions. We use certain terms in this press release such as "proved and probable reserves", "initial reserves" and "unbooked resources", that the SEC's guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in filings with the SEC. US investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No. 1-09337, available from us at BG Group, 100 Thames Valley Park Drive, Reading RG6 1PT. You may read and copy this information at the SEC's public reference room, located at 100 F Street, NE, Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the public reference room. This filing is also avail able at the internet website maintained by SEC at http://www.sec.gov.