Hague and London Oil Regulatory News (HNL)

WESSEX EXPLORATION PLC

(AIM: WSX)

Final Results for the Year Ended 30 June 2012

Wessex Exploration PLC ("Wessex" or "the Company"), the hydrocarbon exploration company, is pleased to announce its final results for the year ended 30 June 2012.

The strategic objective of Wessex is to add value by using its expertise to acquire prospective exploration assets in areas outside existing production, proving up leads and plays in those areas and bringing in third parties to contribute a significant share of the initial exploration expenditure. In this way, Wessex seeks to balance shareholder exposure to risk and capital outlay with appropriate rewards.

Highlights

·; Basin-opening Zaedyus oil discovery in the French territory of Guyane

·; £12 million (gross) raised through the Placing of new shares at 5 pence per share

·; Company approached by Total SA with a view to making a cash offer at 10 pence per share

·; Mobilisation of Stena IceMax drill ship

·; Offshore UK licence P1928 awarded

Dr Malcolm Butler, newly appointed non-executive Chairman commented…"I share the level of excitement and enthusiasm of my fellow directors as we not only await the results of the current appraisal well in Guyane towards the end of the year but also look forward to future developments in our other assets."

This announcement has been approved by Frederik Dekker, BSc. (Geology), MA (Geology), FGS who is a registered professional geologist with the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). Mr Dekker is the Managing Director of Wessex and has over 40 years of experience in the oil industry.

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Notes to Editors:

Guyane

Wessex holds a net 1.25% interest in the Exclusive Exploration Licence (EEL) covering an approximate 24,100 sq.km offshore area of Guyane (a French prefecture previously known as French Guiana). The EEL interest is held via a 50/50 joint venture between Wessex and Northern Petroleum Plc, using Northpet Investments Limited as the holding company with a total interest of 2.5%. The other partners in Guyane are Shell (45% and operator), Tullow (27.5%) and Total (25%).

Juan de Nova

Wessex holds a 70% interest in the Juan de Nova Est Permit, covering 9,010 sq. km in water depths ranging from 200m to 3,000m, to the east of Juan de Nova Island in the Mozambique Channel. Wessex has been designated as operator, subject to the approval of the French authorities. Global Petroleum Limited (AIM: GBP, ASX: GBP) has a 30% interest.

Southern United Kingdom

Wessex holds three licences in southern United Kingdom - PEDL 238: 50%; PEDL 239: 25%; P1928: 35% - alongside its partner and operator, NWE Mirrabooka (UK) Pty. Ltd (a fully owned subsidiary of ASX listed Norwest Energy NL).

Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR, Western Sahara)

Wessex holds three blocks - Bojador (39,983 sq.km), Guelta (15,760 sq.km) and Imlili (16,955 sq.km) - under Assurance Agreements which cause Production Sharing Contracts to come into effect once the SADR government is able to take control of the territory. Wessex is the designated operator and holds a 50% interest; Tower Resources (AIM: TRP) has the other 50% interest.

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Chairman's Statement

This is the first time I have had the opportunity to address shareholders as the newly appointed Chairman of your Company and I am delighted to say that I share the level of excitement and enthusiasm of my fellow directors as we not only await the results of the current appraisal well in Guyane towards the end of the year but also look forward to future developments in our other assets.

Last year was an active and exciting year for your Company as it was transformed by the basin-opening Zaedyus oil discovery, in the French territory of Guyane (northern South America), in September 2011. It is a tribute to our Managing Director, Frederik Dekker, that he was one of the first explorers to recognise the potential of this hitherto unknown basin by acquiring an interest for Wessex in the Guyane Maritime Permit when it was awarded in 2001.

Later in the year this was followed by the raising of £12 million (gross) through the issue of new shares at 5 pence per share in November 2011; the award of licence P1928, offshore Hampshire and the Isle of Wight near the giant Wytch Farm oil field; and the award of the offshore Imlili block by the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic in Western Sahara. In addition, the significant gas discoveries made by Anadarko, ENI and others off the coast of East Africa have focused intense industry attention on the Mozambique Channel, in which our Juan de Nova Est Permit lies.

In March 2012, the Company was approached by France's leading oil & gas company, Total SA, one of the joint venture partners in the Guyane project. Total SA indicated it was considering making a cash offer for the Company at 10 pence per share, which valued the Company at some £75 million. However, our larger institutional shareholders were unanimously of the opinion that the price was too low. Total SA announced on 12 April 2012 that it had decided not to proceed with an offer for the Company. It is the opinion of the Board that it was too early to accurately value the Company with only one discovery well in Guyane but that a more accurate valuation will be possible as we move into 2013 as the Company's exploration programmes progress, especially in Guyane.

I was appointed non-executive Chairman in June 2012, following the resignation of David Bramhill, to whom we owe a vote of thanks for playing a significant role in achieving both a listing for the Company on PLUS and later on AIM of the London Stock Exchange. Andy Yeo, who played a pivotal role alongside Frederik Dekker in the recent funding round, was promoted from non-executive director to the executive role of Chief Financial Officer in July 2012.

Dr Malcolm Butler

Chairman

Managing Director's Review

Financials

In the year to 30 June 2012, the loss before taxation was £1,637,077 (2011: loss £1,336,845) and loss per share stood at 0.26p (2011: loss 0.35p). Administration costs were £1.75m (2011: £1.34m), of which £0.59m were non cash items (£0.34m of share option expense and an impairment charge of £0.25m on southern United Kingdom licence P238).

Shareholder funds increased significantly from £4.8m to £15m, in large part reflecting the £12m (gross) Placing in November 2011.

As at 30 June 2012, Wessex had net cash balances in excess of £10.2 million. These funds will be used primarily to participate in the ongoing exploration programme in Guyane during 2012 and beyond. £2.1m was expended on the Guyane Project during the year.

Project Review

Guyane

In French Guiana, the previously Tullow operated joint venture announced the Zaedyus deep water oil discovery in September 2011, with net oil pay of more than 70 metres in two separate turbidite fans.

Since then, the ENSCO 8503 rig - which drilled the discovery - returned to the Gulf of Mexico. Shell (with a 45% interest) took over as operator of the joint venture early in 2012 and preparations started for a multi well drilling campaign. Shell contracted the new-build, state-of-the-art Stena IceMax drillship. The first well in the campaign is an appraisal well to the Zaedyus discovery, and was spudded on 6 July 2012 in 1,894 metres water depth. Projected total depth of this well is 6,200 metres and it is designed to test the formations equivalent to the oil-bearing zones in the Zaedyus discovery well, as well as explore other objectives.

The second well in the IceMax programme is planned to be an exploration well targeting a nearby prospect. The location of the third well in the campaign, expected to be spudded in 2013, will be decided on the results of the first two wells.

The initial 3-D seismic programme acquired by the joint venture in 2009 covered only a small part of the deep water area of the very large (24,100 square kilometres) Guyane Maritime Permit. Acquisition is ongoing to obtain new 3-D seismic data west and east of this original survey.

Juan de Nova

During early 2012, the Juan de Nova Est licensees purchased 1,000 line kilometres of speculative seismic data acquired by TGS-Nopec (contractor) in 2001. Initial examination of this data had shown that the acquisition and processing parameters used by the contractor for the shallow water part of the survey, where it crossed that part of the Juan de Nova Est block, were inappropriate to properly image the subsurface geology. A trial reprocessing test of part of one line in the shallow water area showed that we could achieve significant improvement in subsurface data quality. Your Company completed reprocessing all of the 1,000 kilometres of the survey overlying the block, and these reprocessed data sets have now been interpreted.

In addition, seismic tapes of previously purchased seismic data from a survey shot much earlier in the deep water area adjacent to the Juan de Nova Est block were integrated with that of the TGS-Nopec dataset. The resulting interpretation showed that there is an extensive area of Turonian age basaltic rocks under the shallow water carbonates (reef) in the shallow water part of the licence, and also the existence of intrusive rocks (dykes and sills) in the pre-Turonian part of the section. This significantly downgrades the older part of the stratigraphic section for potential oil and gas, since geothermal gradients in this older section may be too high for preservation of hydrocarbon accumulations.

However, there does appear to be a sufficiently thick post-Turonian stratigraphic section in the deep water part of the block in the northern corner of the permit as well as the southern triangular part. We are pursuing our interpretation of these two areas of interest and expect to lay out a detailed 2-D seismic programme or perhaps even a focused 3-D survey in these two areas.

The ongoing major gas discoveries made offshore Mozambique on the western side of the Mozambique Channel have continued to focus industry attention in the region. In turn, we have seen significant levels of initial interest in our farm-out discussions, but it is likely that the shooting of additional 2-D seismic, and possibly 3-D if the targets prove to be in deep water, will be a prerequisite to achieving a long term farm-out agreement.

It should also be noted that the current permit expires on 30 December 2013. We have consulted with the French ministry authorities responsible for supervision of the exploratory activities in this area on the possibility of renewing the permit, given that we are now looking at a deep water play over part of the permit. However, there can be no guarantee that such a renewal will be granted.

Southern United Kingdom

In southern United Kingdom, the Company continued evaluating the Company's two large onshore licences, Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences (PEDL's) 238 and 239, as well as applying for a large offshore area between these two permits.

As a result of our continuing studies on PEDL 238 in the Bournemouth area, we have moved the Beluga lead ahead of Hammerjaw.

The Company initiated and acquired a 54 line kilometre 2-D seismic programme over the Razorback lead in the western most block of PEDL 239 on the Isle of Wight. This survey was completed in a relatively short time, was processed, and is presently being interpreted, with a view to determining a drilling location on the feature as soon as possible. The Primary target on this lead is the Jurassic Great Oolite Formation, which is productive on the mainland in the Weald Basin, at the Singleton field, and other locations. However, there is also the possibility of the conventional deeper target of the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone as well as the potential for unconventional shale oil or shale gas from the Liassic in this PEDL.

In May 2012, the Company was awarded licence P1928 in the second tranche of the 26th Offshore Bid Round. This licence includes blocks - 98/6b, 98/7b, 98/8, 98/12 (part), 98/13 (split) - and lies offshore the Hampshire and Isle of Wight coasts, between the Company's existing onshore licences PEDL's 238 and 239, and just east of the giant Wytch Farm oil field. It is a "Promote Licence" which is valid for a period of two years and one that can be extended into a full Traditional Licence with a total duration of four years with the commitment to drill an exploratory well. Total area of the licence is 243.6 square kilometres (602,000 acres).

The area covered by P1928 contains the promising Steelhead (previously Hurst Castle prospect) and Beluga leads which are near the coast and therefore easily accessible to explore with slightly deviated exploratory wells based onshore. In addition, there are several small fault block leads in line with and off the eastern end of Wytch Farm oil field.

The initial work commitment of the P1928 licence consists of the purchase and reprocessing of some existing legacy seismic data, and the acquisition of 70 kilometres of new 2-D seismic data. This seismic acquisition work will be carried out once the relevant environmental studies have been done and appropriate official permissions have been obtained.

Technical work done to date ("back-stripping") before the application for the area was filed in the 26th Seaward Round, suggests that a large volume of generated oil previously trapped in the Wytch Farm structure, could have re-migrated a short distance to the north and northeast into the area of the Steelhead and Beluga leads.

Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara)

The United Nations considers the Western Sahara to be a Non-Self Governing territory; sovereignty over the territory is disputed between Morocco which occupied the territory in 1975, and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic ("SADR") proclaimed in 1976 by the Polisario Front. If and when the political status of the SADR is resolved the hydrocarbon potential of the area can be explored.

In October, 2011, Wessex announced that it had signed an Assurance Agreement and a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for the Imlili block. The Assurance Agreement causes the PSC to come into effect as soon as the SADR government is able to take control of the territory.

The three blocks together - Bojador, Guelta and Imlili - means that Wessex now has control over an area of some 72,000 square kilometres, extending from the outcrops on the eastern side of the Aaiun Basin all the way into the deep water west of the Guelta block.

All the ingredients for a working petroleum system are present in the area, with extensive sandstone formations having excellent reservoir potential; deltaic and near-shore fine grained rocks with hydrocarbon source and trap sealing characteristics, and even small scale salt basin structures in the newly acquired Imlili block.

Frederik Dekker

Managing Director

Consolidated Income Statement

for the year ended 30 June 2012

Consolidated Balance Sheet

as at 30 June 2012

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

for the year ended 30 June 2012

Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

for the year ended 30 June 2012

Notes to the Financial Statements

1. Basis of Preparation

This announcement has been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") but in itself does not contain sufficient information to comply with IFRS. Details of the accounting policies are set out in the annual report for the year ended 30 June 2012. These accounting policies have been amended from the prior year due to the transition to IFRS. Other than presentation there were no significant adjustments in respect of the transition to IFRS.

2. Loss Per Share

Basic loss per share is calculated by dividing the earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the year.Given the Group's reported loss for the year share options are not taken into account when determining the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the year and therefore the basic and diluted earnings per share are the same.

Basic and diluted loss per share

The loss and weighted average number of ordinary shares used in the calculation of basic earnings per share are as follows:

If the Company's share options were taken into consideration in respect of the Company's weighted average number of ordinary shares for the purposes of diluted earnings per share, it would be as follows:

3. Cash Flow from Operating Activities

* Cash Flow from Operating Activities does not include £2.169m of investment in the Guyane Joint Venture

4. Publication of Non-Statutory Accounts

The financial information set out in this announcement does not comprise the Group's statutory accounts for the years ended 30 June 2012 or 30 June 2011.

The financial information has been extracted from the statutory accounts of the Company for the years ended 30 June 2012 and 30 June 2011. The auditors' opinion on those accounts was unmodified and did not contain a statement under section 498 (2) or section 498 (3) Companies Act 2006 and did not include references to any matters to which the auditor drew attention by the way of emphasis.

The statutory accounts for the year ended 30 June 2011 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies, whereas those for the year ended 30 June 2012 will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies following the Company's Annual General Meeting.

5. Annual Report and Annual General Meeting

The Annual Report will be made available from the Company's website www.wessexexploration.com and will be posted to shareholders shortly. The Annual Report contains notice of the Annual General Meeting of the Company which will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday 6 December 2012 at the offices of Ashfords LLP, Accurist House, 44 Baker Street, London W1U 7AL.