Update re Guyane Oil Discovery

 Northern Petroleum Plc - Update re Guyane Oil Discovery

Northern announces that earlier today, Tullow Oil Plc (“Tullow”) in their Interim Management Statement provided the following update on well GM-ES-1, in the Guyane Maritime Permit, in which Northern has a 1.25% interest:

“In French Guiana, the Zaedyus exploration well discovered 72 metres of net oil pay in two turbidite fans. This is the first well in Tullow’s extensive Guyana Basin acreage and successfully proved that the Jubilee play is mirrored across the Atlantic from West Africa. Currently, a sidetrack is being drilled to recover reservoir cores with operations expected to complete in mid-November. The partners are working on the 2012 programme and anticipate it to include 3D seismic and the drilling of two wells which is expected to commence in mid-2012 once all the necessary approvals have been obtained. Shell is expected to take over Operatorship of the block in early 2012, subject to Government and Joint Venture approval.”

The partner interests in the Guyane Maritime licence offshore French Guiana are:

Shell France 45%
Tullow 27.5%
Total 25%
Northpet Investments 2.5% (Northern owns a 50% equity interest in Northpet)