North Sea heavy oil explorer Xcite today said oil was flowing from its Bentley field at a rate of 2,900 barrels of oil per day.
The firm is carrying out a pre-production flow test, with more than 10,000 barrels of oil from the field having so far been transferred to a nearby tanker.
The firm also said it had closed the second stage of a private placing with private equity firm Global Resource Funding Partners, raising £8.3million.
The field, east of Shetland, has been estimated to have 500million barrels of oil in place with a proved plus probable estimate of 115million barrels.
Shares in the firm, which reached a high of 425p in December 2012, were static at 78p.