Hague and London Oil Regulatory News (HNL)

WESSEX EXPLORATION PLC

("Wessex" or "the Company")

Projects Update

Wessex Exploration PLC (AIM: WSX), the oil and gas exploration company, announces an update in relation to its projects in Guyane, Juan de Nova and Southern England.

Guyane Maritime Permit

(Wessex 1.25%, held via Northpet Investments Ltd, a Joint Venture company)

Exploration

The drilling of the GM-ES-2 Zaedyus appraisal well, located up-dip of the GM-ES-1 Zaedyus discovery, commenced on 6 July 2012. The appraisal well is the first of a planned four well drilling programme. GM-ES-2 will be testing a deeper turbidite fan than GM-ES-1 as well as appraising the existing discovered pay-zones.

Seismic

The CGG Veritas Oceanic Phoenix, has recently been mobilised to carry out an extensive 3-D seismic programme either side of the Cingulata fan system. The programme will cover 620 sq. km over the Cebus lead to the southeast, which will complete the seismic coverage of the Eastern Slope. This will be followed by a 4,700 sq. km programme to the northwest, encompassing the Central Area, which has the potential to contain additional turbidite fan systems. The data acquisition phase is expected to be complete by the end of 2012.

Juan de Nova Est (Mozambique Channel)

(Wessex 70% and Operator)

Wessex has completed its preliminary interpretation of the reprocessed seismic data it recently purchased over its Juan de Nova Est permit in the Mozambique Channel. The interpretation of this widely spaced seismic programme shows possible deep water turbidite sandstone facies in the far north and south of the permit, in water depths up to 1,500 metres.

As previously announced, we have been conducting an intensive farm-out campaign for this permit and several large oil companies have signed confidentiality agreements. The recent seismic interpretation carried out by the project partners will assist in farm-out discussions. We are also considering the acquisition of a limited 2-D seismic programme over the two areas of interest delineated by the recent interpretation.

The project partnership has also initiated discussions with the relevant French authorities, having jurisdiction over Juan de Nova, in relation to the future work programme. In particular we have discussed the possible extension of the Juan de Nova licence beyond the expiration of the initial period in December 2013.

Southern United Kingdom

(Wessex P239 - 25%, PEDL P238 - 50% and P1928 - 35%)

Norwest Energy NL ("Norwest"), operator of the South of England licences, recently announced details of the initial interpretation of the Razorback prospect. The Razorback infill seismic survey on the Isle of Wight was acquired in Q1 2012 to reduce the exploration risk of the prospect prior to making a drill or drop decision. In relation to this, Norwest has received approval from the Department Of Energy and Climate Change to defer the PEDL 239 "drill or drop decision" for two years thus providing additional time for technical analysis.

The data processing confirms that the Razorback prospect appears structurally robust. The technical team is currently testing specialist processing techniques to enhance the deeper horizons. This work will improve the project partnership's understanding of structural timing which in turn allows a more confident assessment of the risk associated with hydrocarbon migration.

The Razorback prospect is located in a central position on the Isle of Wight and is currently the highest ranked prospect in PEDL 239. The primary target is the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone reservoir and there is a secondary target, the Jurassic Great Oolite reservoir. Razorback is estimated to contain Prospective Resources of 43 MMbls oil in place (P50).

Wessex was awarded the offshore P1928 licence early in 2012 in the second tranche of the 26th Offshore Bid Round. Wessex has a 35% working interest in this licence, and Norwest, with the remaining 65%, is administrator of the licence. P1928 is a two year "Promote" licence, but can be extended into a traditional format by the commitment to drill an exploratory well on the licence.

The P1928 licence covers an interesting area near the Hampshire coast, where the Steelhead and Beluga leads have been postulated to have had the ability to entrap secondary migrating oil from the eastern end of the giant Wytch Farm oil field. Wessex and Norwest are looking into the availability of a shallow-water seismic crew to acquire data to de-risk the structural aspects of the Steelhead lead.

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 Geologist (AAPG). Mr Dekker is the Managing Director of Wessex and has over 40 years of experience in the oil industry.

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Editors Notes:

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 Investment 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 is the operator and holds a 70% interest in the Juan de Nova Est Permit, covering 9,010 sq. km in water depths ranging from 200m to 3000m, to the east of Juan de Nova Island in the Mozambique Channel. Global Petroleum Limited (AIM: GBP, ASX: GBP) has a 30% interest.

South of England

Wessex, alongside its Partner and operator, NWE Mirrabooka (UK) Pty. Ltd (a fully owned subsidiary of ASX listed Norwest Energy NL) holds three licenses in the South of England - PEDL 238: 50%; PEDL: 239: 25%; P1928: 35%.