Echo Energy Regulatory News (ECHO)

26 August 2010

Independent Resources plc

("IRG" or "the Company")

Sidi Toui - 4 ("ST-4") Well Spud

Independent Resources plc is pleased to announce that exploration well ST-4 was spudded today, 26 August 2010. The ST-4 well is situated on the Ksar Hadada Permit (the "Permit") lying onshore Tunisia which covers an area of 5,608 square kilometres. The Company holds an 18.97% Working Interest.

The ST-4 well is the second of a two-well drilling programme that forms part of the work programme that was agreed when PetroAsian Energy Holdings Limited farmed into the Permit. PetroAsian is committed to finance all of the joint venture's work commitments in the current programme, including the drilling of the two wells, up to US$14.5 million.

This highly deviated well is being drilled into an Ordovician Bir Ben Tartar Formation oil target and is planned to reach a true vertical target depth of a minimum of 1095 metres and 1627 metres measured depth. It is envisaged that the ST-4 well will take approximately 29 days to drill, subject to operational requirements, at a dry hole cost of approximately US$ 6.14 million.

Further announcements will be made once the current drilling programme is completed.

Independent assessments of gross prospective contingent resources and chances of success for the 2010 drilling targets on the Permit have been carried out by Blackwatch Petroleum Services Ltd on behalf of PetroAsian Energy Holdings Ltd (52.96% Working Interest), and are reported as follows;

Ksar Hadada Licence Gross Prospective Recoverable Resource Estimates (MMbbls), pre 2010 Drilling Programme

This announcement has been reviewed by Roberto Bencini, Technical Director of Independent Resources, for the purposes of the current Guidance Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies issued by the London Stock Exchange in June 2009. Mr. Bencini is a chartered petroleum geologist. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the Geological Society of London and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Background details follow:

These operations follow the renewal of the permit for three years from 20 April 2008 and the previously-announced transaction involving PetroAsian. This transaction, which resulted in the current joint venture, removed IRG's commitments for the duration of this phase of the permit and allowed at least two wells to be drilled and tested and significant new seismic data to be acquired. The block's Operator, Petroceltic Ksar Hadada Limited, has a 28.07% Working Interest.

The primary targets on the Ksar Hadada block are Cambro-Ordovician quartzites and the Silurian Acacus Sandstone. Several large oil-prone prospects have been mapped; these are sourced by the Silurian Tanezzuft Shale, which is the main source rock for North Africa. A recent light oil discovery in the Cambro-Ordovician immediately to the south of the block in the adjacent Remada Sud permit has now validated the potential of the Ksar Hadada prospects. Across the border in Libya high oil production rates have been achieved on test from multiple Acacus wells, providing added attraction to the Acacus play on Ksar Hadada. In addition, significant shale oil prospectivity remains to be mapped and tested.

IRG was admitted to AIM in December 2005 and alongside its exploration interests in Tunisia is pursuing an integrated gas business in Italy which includes the onshore Ribolla shale gas basin near the north-west coast, and the strategically-positioned Rivara gas storage facility in the Po Valley. The company is focusing on developing both conventional oil and unconventional gas production, and building a profitable portfolio through wholly-owned initiatives and partnerships.