BLVN.L Regulatory News (BLVN)

11 January 2011

Bowleven plc ("Bowleven" or the "Company")

Vesting and grant of awards to directors pursuant to the

Bowleven Long Term Incentive Plan

1. Vesting of awards pursuant to the Bowleven Long Term Incentive Plan

Bowleven wishes to announce that on 11 January 2011, a total of 203,145 ordinary shares of 10 pence each in the Company ("Shares") vested in favour of certain directors under the terms of the Bowleven Long Term Incentive Plan ("the Plan"). This vesting, details of which are provided below, relates to awards granted under the Plan on 13 December 2007 and was subject to specified conditions relating to the Company's Total Shareholder Return performance. In accordance with those conditions the number of shares vesting in each case represents 46.7% of the maximum possible awards under the Plan. Ordinarily, these awards would have vested on the third anniversary of the date of award, in December 2010. However, such vesting was delayed due to the recent close period (which expired on 10 January 2011) arising from drilling operations on the Sapele-1 well.

In accordance with the rules of the Plan, all of the above Shares have been transferred to the relevant individuals by the trustee of the Company's Employee Benefit Trust. Following this transfer, a total of 89,178 Shares were sold at a price of £3.9487 per Share on behalf of the directors on 11 January 2011, primarily in order to account for tax payable on vesting. Details of these sales are set out below:

2. Grant of awards pursuant to the Bowleven Long Term Incentive Plan

Bowleven also wishes to announce that, on 11 January 2011, further awards over a total of 363,158 Shares were granted to certain directors under the Plan, as set out below:

The above awards will ordinarily vest on or around the third anniversary of grant but only to the extent that certain performance conditions are satisfied by the Company over a specified period of three years. In addition, prior to an award vesting, Bowleven's Remuneration Committee are required to be satisfied that there has been a satisfactory and sustained improvement in the underlying financial performance of the Company over that same three year period. No consideration was payable by the directors for the grant of their awards.

3. Summary of current holdings of relevant directors

Following the above notifications, the relevant directors' beneficial interests in Shares are as follows:

ENQUIRIES

For further information please contact:

Bowleven plc

Kevin Hart, Chief Executive Officer 00 44 131 524 5678

Kerry Crawford, Head of Investor Relations 00 44 131 524 5678

Brunswick Group LLP

Patrick Handley 00 44 207 404 5959

Natalia Erikssen

RBS Hoare Govett

Stephen Bowler 00 44 207 678 8000

Jamie Buckland