2 April 2013

Petrel Resources plc

("Petrel" or the "Company")

Technical Update on Irish Atlantic Margin Prospects

Petrel Resources (AIM:PET) is pleased to announce that it has now completed the initial work on its two highly prospective Licencing Options (1,400km²) in the promising and under-explored Porcupine Basin, offshore west Ireland. It is now moving forward in talks with prospective partners. Option 11/4 in the North of the basin covers Blocks 35/23, 35/24 and the western half of 35/25 and the second option 11/6 in the East of the basin covers Blocks 45/6, 45/11 and 45/16. In addition to the previously identified potential on Quad 35,

Quad 45 (Option 11/6) has the capability to hold several hundred million barrels of in-place oil.    

Interest in the Porcupine Basin continues to rise with the nearby ExxonMobil well about to be spudded on the Dunquin prospect.  The basin contains known working petroleum systems at Jurassic and Cretaceous levels, with oil/gas shows recorded in most of the 29 exploration wells drilled in previous times. Flows of high API, good quality oil have been recorded from three wells, with condensate flows recorded in a fourth well. Mature source rocks are proven in the Jurassic and are also likely in the Lower Cretaceous. Good quality reservoir sands have been recorded at Jurassic, Early Cretaceous and Early Tertiary levels.

Since award of the Options, the company has purchased additional 2D seismic data, 3D seismic data and well logs to supplement its data base and has carried out further regional seismic mapping integrated with well analysis. Since our last update Petrel has completed further detailed technical programmes, including:

?      The interpretation of 3D seismic data in the south-east part of Quad 35.

?      Acoustic inversion of selected lines to assist in the assessment of the targeted reservoir sections.

?      Detailed internal seismic mapping of two mounded Lower Cretaceous fan features in the Option 11/4 area.

?      Detailed seismic mapping of the Eocene delta in Quad 35 (Option 11/4).

?      Mapping of Lower Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary prospects within Quad 45 (Option 11/6).

?      Progressed the seismic/sequence stratigraphic and provenance studies to characterise the depositional facies of the Lower Tertiary and Lower Cretaceous successions in the option blocks.

The recent work has firmed up a number of prospects, in both option areas. These are at both Lower Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary levels across the blocks.

David Horgan, Managing Director of Petrel, commented ?We have long believed that the offshore Porcupine Basin is a hydrocarbon province. This has been further supported by our recent work in identifying potential prospects on both of our blocks. The spudding of a well by Exxon Mobil in the nearby Dunquin prospect will add to the interest. We look forward to increased activities across the Basin which we believe has the potential to be a major new oil province. We have commenced our search for potential partners?.

PROSPECTS: OPTION AREA 11/06 (QUAD 45)

A significant Lower Cretaceous prospect has been mapped in Blocks 45/11 and 45/16, with a closed area of approximately 27 km². Drill depths to this feature are up to 3,000 metres in approximately 1,000 m water depth. At shallower levels this feature is overlain by Lower Tertiary sand-prone sediments that provide a promising stacked second target.  Further south in Block 45/16 a second potential prospect has been mapped in Lower Cretaceous sands that pinch out in a lobe up-dip eastwards within the block. The up-dip wedge within the block covering 80 km². Lower Tertiary sands provide a promising shallower target.

There has been no drilling in this sector of the basin and hence there is no control on the nature of the potential reservoir sections. Nevertheless, given the thicknesses of the target sections seen on the seismic sections and the mapped areas under closure, the Option 11/6 prospects are capable of holding several hundred million barrels of in-place oil. Additional inversion work will be carried out on both prospects in these blocks. These features lie 35 km northeast and up-dip from the ExxonMobil group well currently being spudded on the Dunquin prospect in the Porcupine Basin. 

PROSPECTS: OPTION AREA 11/04 (QUAD 35)

Eocene (Lower Tertiary) As a follow up to our previous work, seismic mapping has identified southward prograding Eocene clinoforms as potential targets. The Eocene deltaic sand bodies lie in an ideal position for the entrapment of northward migrating hydrocarbons, generated from mature Middle/Upper Jurassic source rocks. Recent seismic inversion lines have further helped us understand a number of sand-filled channels that represent potential stratigraphic targets. Interpretation of 3D data further east on the Eocene delta has revealed a number of promising sand sheets on the shelf slope with a potential for up-dip seal. Further inversion work is ongoing in this area to constrain the stratigraphic trapping potential. Drill depths to the top of the Eocene sand sequence are about 2,500 m subsea, in water depths of 700-800 m.

Lower Cretaceous: Further work has also gone into understanding the Lower Cretaceous play. A mounded feature was discovered within the Lower Cretaceous of Option Area 11/04 which displays internal stratigraphy and evidence of erosion prior to burial. Seismic inversion has shown alternations of sand-prone and mud-prone layers within the feature. Internal areas of 4-way closure up to 15 km² in extent have been mapped as potential targets within the fan complex. The Cretaceous fan is here at a depth of about 4000 m subsea, with water depths of 800 m.

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This statement has been approved by Petrel Resources senior geological consultant Professor Dave Naylor FGS, EurGeol.

Petrel Resources is a diversified oil and gas exploration and production company, with interests in Ghana, Ireland and Iraq. The company has a signed petroleum agreement in Ghana, holds two licences in offshore Ireland and recently completed an exploration and production joint venture contract in Iraq.

Enquiries:

www.petrelresources.com