Britain's new Laggan-Tormore gas fields running at full capacity

LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) - Gas production from Britain's Laggan-Tormore gas condensate fields off the Shetland Islands in the North Sea is now running at full capacity, operator Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) said on Monday.

The fields, which were developed at a cost of about 3.3 billion pounds ($4.75 billion), had initially been slated to begin production more than a year ago but suffered delays because of challenging weather conditions.

"The Laggan-Tormore fields began production on February 7, 2016, and production has since ramped up to the full production capacity of 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe/d) per day," Total said in a statement.

Britain's energy minister Amber Rudd said the project was a vote of confidence in the country's oil and gas sector.

"North Sea oil and gas is crucial to our energy mix and this government is clear that the broad shoulders of the UK are firmly behind this vital industry," she said in the Total statement.

Britain's oil and gas output has fallen by about two thirds since 2000 as production has declined from ageing infrastructure.

Hopes for a revival have been pinned on significant capital investment over the past few years by oil and gas majors in new projects off the Shetland Islands and in field-life extensions.

Total has a 60 percent stake in the project, with Dong Energy holding 20 percent and SSE (LSE: SSE.L - news) subsidiary SSE E&P owning the remaining 20 percent. ($1 = 0.6952 pounds) (Reporting By Susanna Twidale; Editing by David Goodman)