Other

Noble Energy’s international business also includes multiple assets which provide great balance and diversity to our portfolio. Other currently producing assets include offshore positions in the North Sea and China, which have contributed significant oil production and cash flow to the Company in recent years. In addition, multiple new venture opportunities provide substantial exploration upside.

Noble Energy holds a 57 percent working interest in the Cheng Dao Xi field offshore China. Located in the shallow water of the southern Bohai Bay, the field began producing oil in 2003. In 2011, we commissioned a newly installed platform and commenced engineering and design of a third platform. Noble Energy's North Sea operations, which began in 1996, include offshore areas in the Netherlands and the UK. Production began in early 2007 at Dumbarton (30 percent working interest), our largest oil project in the North Sea. The first well at the nearby Lochranza field was tied into Dumbarton at the end of 2009, with a second well added in mid 2010.

The Company's new venture strategy led to large acreage positions offshore Nicaragua and France. In Nicaragua, Noble Energy holds approximately two million acres with a 100 percent working interest. Offshore France, Noble Energy has a 72 percent working interest in nearly three million gross acres in the Western Mediterranean. During 2010, the Company began acquiring 3D seismic data in Nicaragua and 2D data on the acreage offshore France. In 2011, the Company joined a venture that is exploring the AGC Profond block offshore Senegal and Guinea Bissau in West Africa.