Afren Announces GEC Partnership

Gasol plc ("Gasol" or "the Company")

Update

Gasol plc (AIM: GAS), whose strategic objective is to become the premier independent Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) company creating value by producing and supplying LNG from the Gulf of Guinea to high-value growth markets in the US and Europe, is pleased to note the press release from Afren Plc announcing that, as part of its strategy to aggregate and commercialise stranded gas assets in Nigeria, Afren has signed Production Sharing Contracts (“PSC”) for OPL 917 and OPL 907, within the highly prospective Anambra basin, onshore Nigeria.

Background

• Gasol has a strategic relationship with Afren Plc (“Afren”), the premier African independent oil and gas exploration, development and production company.
• Gasol has a 20 per cent. share holding in African LNG, Afren’s exclusive downstream liquefaction partner in developing a monetization strategy.
• It is envisaged that Gas will be supplied by Afren plc, the independent African oil & gas company
• Gasol has the option to acquire the remaining 80 per cent. which, if exercised, would represent a significant landmark in the development of the company.
• Using Afren as a key upstream partner, Gasol / African LNG have potential access to significant low cost stranded gas reserves in the Gulf of Guinea.
  The alliance with Afren allows each company to optimise its particular strength; Afren on the upstream and Gasol/African LNG mid to downstream. To the extent Afren has gas assets which it wishes to monetise, it will seek to conclude a transaction with Gasol/African LNG on a right of first refusal basis.
• Afren, African LNG and E.ON Ruhrgas recently concluded a cooperation agreement to jointly investigate, develop, collect and monetize gas in Nigeria for domestic and export LNG purposes.

Soumo Bose, Gasol’s Chief Executive Officer, commented: “This is an exciting development for Gasol and African LNG. Access to low cost stranded gas is Nigeria through Afren Plc is an important element in our objective to build an integrated LNG position in the Gulf of Guinea.”

"Afren, which has a strategic interest in Gasol, is well positioned to play a significant role in monetising the vast stranded gas resources in Nigeria.”

For further information:

Gasol plc

Tel: 020 7290 3300
Soumo Bose, Chief Executive
Uzo Ijewere, Investor Relations

Pelham PR

Tel: 020 7743 6670
Alex Walters
Charles Goodwin

Jefferies International Ltd

Tel: 020 7029 8000
Toby Hayward
Oliver Griffiths

The full text of Afren's announcement follows:

Afren signs Production Sharing Contracts for two licences in the gas rich Anambra Basin in Nigeria

London, 3 March 2008 - Afren plc ("Afren" or “the Company”) announces that, as part of its strategy to aggregate and commercialise stranded gas assets in Nigeria, the Company has signed Production Sharing Contracts (“PSC”) for OPL 917 and OPL 907, within the Anambra basin, onshore Nigeria.

Highlights

• Afren through a Joint Venture (“JV”) with Global Energy Company Limited of Nigeria (“GEC”) a leading Nigerian based international oil and gas company active in oil and gas services across the Gulf of Guinea, has signed PSCs for OPLs 917 and OPL 907 and a signature bonus of US$1.6 million for each licence has been paid by the licence participants.
• The licences are located in the Anambra Basin, the second most prospective basin in Nigeria, with estimated remaining gas resources in excess of 5 trillion cubic feet (“Tcf”) of gas, yet the basin remains largely unexplored with only 30 wells drilled to date leading to six discoveries.
• The two licences cover an area totalling over 3,500 square kilometres.
• Both areas contain existing discoveries that require further appraisal and a number of additional leads and prospects have been identified.
  OPL 907 contains the Akukwa gas and condensate discovery, with estimated in place volumes of up to 400 billion cubic feet (“Bcf”).
  OPL 917 contains the Igbariam gas and oil discovery, with estimated in place gas volumes up to 300 Bcf and oil in place up to 80 mmbbl.
• The near term work programme includes additional data gathering and analysis on the existing discoveries. Additional high resolution 2D seismic data will be acquired over the existing discoveries later in 2008, prior to appraisal drilling in 2009. The seismic will also evaluate the identified exploration leads and prospects.

   

Osman Shahenshah, Chief Executive of Afren, commented: "The announcement closely follows the cooperation agreement recently signed with E.ON Ruhrgas and African LNG to jointly investigate, develop, collect and monetise gas for domestic and export purposes. The two licences, with previous exploration history and two discoveries, are located in the under-explored Anambra Basin, where significant quantities of gas and condensate have previously been found. We are pleased to have also strengthened our relationship with GEC, marking our fifth indigenous partnership in Nigeria to date.”

Joe Obiago, Chief Executive of GEC, commented: "We are pleased to have formed the AGER joint venture with Afren and to have successfully concluded Production Sharing Contracts on two highly prospective gas rich licences in the Anambra Basin. This is a significant step forward in GEC’s mission to be a major industrial player in the emerging gas utilisation market in Nigeria.”

Background to the Agreements

The JV partnership, Afren Global Energy Resources (“AGER”), has taken a 41% interest in OPL 907 and a 42% interest in OPL 917, and will act as operator of both assets. The JV agreement between Afren and GEC defines the commercial terms under which Afren will participate with GEC in the exploration and development of the two licences. Afren has a combined 50% interest in the JV, with GEC holding the remaining 50%.

OPL 907

Four shallow coreholes were drilled by Shell prior to the Akukwa-1 (1955) and Akukwa-2 (1956) wells that were drilled by Shell/BP. The Akukwa-1 well encountered gas and condensate in Cretaceous sandstones but was not fully evaluated. The Akukwa-2 appraisal well found approximately 500ft net gas pay in several horizons and produced dry gas on test.

The first stage of the initial work programme involves evaluating existing data, followed by the acquisition of 1,000 km of 2D seismic and the drilling of one or more appraisal wells on Akukwa.

Other participants on the licence are Buston Energy Resources Ltd (25%), Allenne Exploration & Production Ltd (14%), Kaztec Engineering Ltd (5%), VP Energy Ltd (3%), De Atai Oil Services Int'l Ltd (2%) and Bepta Oil & Gas Ltd (10%).

OPL 917

Two wells were previously drilled on the licence by Shell/BP. Igbariam-1 (1971) encountered gas and condensate with a reported 196ft net gas column and a 30ft condensate/oil column in Cretaceous sandstones; the well was not tested. The subsequent Ajire-1 well (1972) was water wet.

A number of prospects and leads have been identified south of the discovery well. The first stage of the work programme will be to carry out a full evaluation of the existing data, prior to acquiring new 2D seismic over the Igbariam discovery and identified leads and prospects, prior to appraisal drilling on the Igbariam field.

Other participants on the licence are Petrolog Oil & Gas Ltd (18%), VP Energy Ltd (17%), De Atai Oil Services International Limited (10%) and Goland Petroleum Development Co. Limited (13%).

The JV partners will also initiate a community engagement programme in the region.

Notes to editors:

Gasol plc

Gasol is an AIM listed company. Its management team, under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Mr. Soumo Bose; whose most recent appointment was as CFO of Egyptian LNG, a US$2 billion LNG joint venture between BG Group, Petronas, Gaz de France and Egyptian state gas companies; is well-positioned to establish the company as the leading Gulf of Guinea focused liquefied natural gas (LNG) player, with operations across the gas value chain.

Gasol seeks to create value by procuring and liquefying LNG in Central and West Africa and supplying to high-value growth markets in the Atlantic Basin; the Company’s initial aim is to procure, liquefy and sell 5 million tonnes of LNG within five years.

Gasol works in partnership with governments, energy majors, utilities and independents in Africa, the USA and Europe. Significant progress has been made through its investee company, AfLNG (in which Gasol holds a 20 per cent shareholding and has an option to acquire the remaining 80 per cent) which is developing multiple conventional / floating LNG projects in Central and West Africa. AfLNG recently entered into a co-operation agreement with Afren plc and E.ON Ruhrgas AG to assess the feasibility of developing, aggregating and monetizing Nigerian gas reserves for domestic and export purposes. AfLNG is Afren’s exclusive downstream liquefaction partner in developing an LNG monetization strategy.

Gasol derives the benefit of a strong board, with unparalleled experience and relationships in African oil and gas, consisting of Dr Osman Shahenshah (Chief Executive Officer of Afren plc), Dr Charles Osezua (formerly a Special Assistant to the Nigerian Head of State on petroleum matters and now Chairman of the Owel-Linkso Group, a leading gas company in West Africa); Mr Paul Biggs (a project finance specialist and partner of Trinity International LLP) and Mr Haresh Kanabar.

Dr Rilwanu Lukman, the former OPEC President & Secretary General who is currently Honorary Advisor to the President of Nigeria on Energy and Strategic Matters and Chairman of Afren plc, is Strategic Advisor to the Board.

Gasol shares trade under the ticker symbol 'AIM: GAS'. Further information is available from the Company's website, www.gasolplc.com.

Global Energy Company Limited

Global Energy Company Limited (“GEC”) is a leading Nigerian service company, being the largest African geological consultancy in sub-Saharan Africa. The company specialises in seismic and data processing and has previously worked with most of the Nigerian joint venture producers, including Chevron, Shell and Statoil, in the management of their exploration and technical data and samples.

Afren plc

Afren (www.afren.com) was founded in December 2004 by a management team including Dr Rilwanu Lukman, (Chairman), Osman Shahenshah, (Chief Executive) and Bert Cooper (Advisor to the Board), with the vision to become the premier pan African independent Exploration and Production company. Afren has built an executive and non-executive management and advisory team with broad and extensive experience in the industry, both in West Africa and internationally; in identifying and completing corporate expansion opportunities and in public company financing. Afren also looks to leverage key relationships across the region to gain preferential access to opportunities.

Since its listing on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, Afren has rapidly expanded its portfolio and the management team has delivered a portfolio of assets in Nigeria, the Joint Development Zone of Nigeria-São Tomé and Príncipe, Gabon, Angola, Congo Brazzaville and Ghana.

African LNG Holdings Ltd ("AfLNG")

African LNG is a company with a formidable management team with significant experience of the oil and gas industry and uniquely of LNG in Africa. African LNG's management team is led by Theo Oerlemans, who has spent the majority of his 30-year plus career with the Royal Dutch Shell Group of Companies where he held senior positions in Shell's Sakhalin, Malaysia, Brunei and Oman LNG projects and was the CEO of Nigeria LNG, responsible for launching what has become the largest private sector LNG project in the world.

African LNG intends to become the premier independent integrated LNG company in the Gulf of Guinea with planned operations across the LNG value chain, from gas gathering and liquefaction to shipping, storage and re-gasification in the Atlantic Basin.

END