Isle of Wight Drilling Update

27 May 2005 11:30

27 May 2005 Northern Petroleum Plc ("Northern" or the "Company") Isle of Wight Drilling Update Northern announces that it has been advised by British Drilling and FreezingLimited ("BDF") that the BDF-28 rig, currently at Grimethorpe Colliery and dueto drill one further well nearby, will arrive on the Sandhills-2 drill sitetowards the end of June 2005.Works to auger and set the conductor pipe at a depth of 80 feet are scheduledto commence on June 6th and, on completion, the unit will move to the BouldnorCopse-1 site to set a conductor pipe there to a similar depth. These works arebeing undertaken by P.R. Marriott Drilling Limited. The use of an augerachieves a welcomed reduction in noise levels and small savings in drillingtime and cost for these initial phases.Northern had previously announced an anticipated drilling start date in Aprilthis year, as advised by the drilling contractor, BDF. In the event the timetaken out of the drilling sequence to drill a gas vent relief well for UK CoalPlc enabled two other oil and gas exploration companies to gain both necessaryplanning consents and time to prepare their drill sites placing them in aposition to exercise in full their options for use of the rig, a situation notenvisaged by BDF in their previous advices to Northern.Derek Musgrove, Managing Director of Northern stated "This immenselyfrustrating event is at last coming to an end. Long lead times have become afeature of the now buoyant oil exploration business. In this instance we hadexamined five potential rig contractors, including three from outside the UK,before contracting with BDF at the earliest moment at which they were preparedto commit to usThe delays started with the diverting of the rig, for safety issues, toMattersley Colliery which allowed an unexpected sequence of drilling to arise,of which Northern had incomplete knowledge and no ability to affect. It hasbeen a rare experience and I would like to thank the majority of Northern'sshareholders who have been supportive and given their encouragement throughthis period.The recently announced reserve report included an independent petroleumengineering appraisal of our expectations for the Wessex-Channel Basin, one ofour two main areas of interest in England. Now we will soon be in a position totest that expectation and the economic potential."Contacts:Derek Musgrove, Managing DirectorNorthern Petroleum PlcTel. 020 7743 6080Chris Roberts / Ben SimonsHansard CommunicationsTel. 020 7245 1100ENDNORTHERN PETROLEUM PLC