VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - May 26, 2011) - Hemisphere Energy Corporation (News - Market indicators) is pleased to announce the appointment of Ian Duncan, P.Eng., as Vice President of Engineering.

Mr. Duncan joined Hemisphere Energy in January 2011 and has been a tremendous addition to the technical team. Ian is a Professional Engineer with a range of oil and gas industry experience including drilling, production and facility operations. Before joining Hemisphere he worked at an engineering consulting firm, Solaris MCI, providing facilities engineering services for a producing company in the Horn River Shale Basin. Prior to Solaris MCI Ian worked for Talisman Energy in various exploration and development projects including northeast British Columbia deep sour gas, east central Alberta Mannville heavy oil, Bakken oil in Saskatchewan and Marcellus Shale gas in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Duncan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta and is registered in the Province of Alberta as a Professional Engineer.

In conjunction with Mr. Duncan's appointment, Hemisphere has granted incentive stock options to Mr. Duncan and to its directors and other officers, entitling them to purchase up to a total of 520,000 shares, exercisable at a price of $0.40 per share for a period of five years.

Hemisphere is focused on building and developing core areas that provide low to medium risk drilling opportunities to increase production, reserves and cash flow.

HEMISPHERE ENERGY CORPORATION

Don Simmons, President and CEO