SEY.L Regulatory News (SEY)

13 December 2013

STERLING ENERGY PLC

Grant of Options under HMRC Approved Sub Plan of All-Staff LTIP

Sterling Energy Plc ("Sterling" or the "Company") (AIM: SEY), the independent oil and gas exploration and production company with interests in the Middle East and Africa, advises that Dr Philip Frank has been granted 69,500 options over ordinary shares in the Company, of 40p nominal value, ("Ordinary Shares") under the HMRC Approved Sub Plan ("HMRC Sub Plan") of Sterling's All Staff Long Term Incentive Plan ("All Staff LTIP").

The options are granted with a 5 year term commencing 10 December 2013; after 3 years the Performance Conditions (see below) are used to determine the proportion of options that vest; vested options may be exercised during the final 2 year period. The options under the HMRC Sub Plan are granted with an exercise price of 43p per share.

Following this grant, Dr Philip Frank holds 2,568,350 options over 40p Ordinary Shares in the Company; there are, in total, 13,707,483 options over Ordinary Shares in issue representing 6.2% of the issued share capital of the Company.

The Performance Conditions for the options granted under HMRC Sub Plan of the All Staff LTIP are as follows

1. The quantity of options that vest is based on the change of the Company's share price ("SESP") and FTSE350 index ("Index") over 3 years; the performance period runs from 1 December 2013 to 30 November 2016. The reference values for 1 December 2013 are SESP of 42 pence and Index of 3,628.

2. If the SESP performance matches the Index performance, then 25% of the share options will be earned.

3. If the SESP performance is between matching the Index and out-performing by 50%, the amount of the share options that will be earned will be determined by extrapolating on a straight line basis.

4. If the SESP out performs the Index performance by 50% or more, then 100% of the share options will be earned.

5. If the SESP under-performs the Index performance by 10% or more, then no share options will be earned and the share options will lapse.

6. If the SESP performance is between matching the Index and under-performing by 10%, the amount of the share options that will be earned will be determined by extrapolating on a straight line basis.