Stmt re North Sea Otter Field

Total Fina Elf.
14 October 2002

                     First Production from North Sea Otter Field

Paris, October 14,2002 - TotalFinaElf announces the Otter field in the UK North
Sea has started oil production less than two years after official approval of
the development plan.  TotalFinaElf is the operator of the project with a 54.3%
stake alongside Dana Petroleum, Shell and ExxonMobil.

Discovered in 1977, the Otter field is located in block 210/15a in 182 metres of
water and lies approximately 150 kilometres northeast of the Shetland islands.

By the end of 2002, Otter should reach its production plateau of 30,000 barrels
of oil per day.

The partners are developing the field as a satellite of the Eider platform
located 21 kilometres away. The development plan comprises three producers and
two water-injection subsea wells.  Artificial lift of each subsea producer well
is provided by downhole duel electric submersible pumps (ESP's).  This is the
first use of this technology in such an environment.

The Otter field strengthens TotalFinaElf's presence in Northern Europe (Norway,
United Kingdom and the Netherlands), a region where the company produced 844,000
barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first half of 2002 representing 35% of
its global production.

                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange