BG GROUP CEO says no plans for rights issue

LONDON May 3 (Reuters) - BG Group denied it was planning a rights issue, scotching rumours that had weighed on its shares after it announced an increase in its capital expenditure budget.

"A rights issue is not part of our current plan, and the funding programme that we have in place is going along very nicely indeed and can accommodate the increases in our capex that we're announced today," Chief Executive Frank Chapman told analysts on a call on Thursday.

Chapman added that he did not expect a recovery to full production this year at the Elgin Platform in the North Sea, which is operated by France's Total and in which BG is a stakeholder. The field was shut earlier this year following a gas leak.

He also said output at the BMS exploration concession offshore Brazil was currently pumping "well over" 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.