Arbitration Ruling

1 Jun 2006 07:03

Hardy Oil & Gas plc01 June 2006 For Immediate Release 1 June 2006 Hardy Oil and Gas plc ("Hardy" or "the Company") Arbitration Ruling Hardy Oil and Gas plc (AIM : HDY), the oil and gas exploration and productionCompany, with assets in India and Nigeria today announces that its defence ofits pre-emption rights relating to the Hindustan Oil Exploration Company Limited("HOEC") was not upheld by the London Court of International Arbitration. The ruling against Hardy, as a party to the Hindustan Oil Exploration CompanyLimited shareholder agreement, dated 14 October 1998, ("Shareholder Agreement")and Hardy's counter claim under the Shareholder Agreement against HousingDevelopment Finance Corporation Ltd., Unocal Bharat Limited, and InfrastructureLeasing & Financial Services Ltd. was communicated to the Company after thehearing on 30 May 2006. Hardy will continue to hold its strategic 8.5% in HOEC's issued share capital.As of the 31 May 2006, HOEC had a market capitalisation of $175 million. For further information please contact: Hardy Oil and Gas plc 020 7471 9850Yogeshwar Sharma, Managing Director Arden Partners Limited 020 7398 1632Richard Day Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000Ben Willey This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange