Issue of Warrants

31 Dec 2008 11:51

For immediate release: 31 December 2008

Northern Petroleum Plc ("Northern" or the Company") Issue of Warrants

Northern announces that the Board has approved the issue to Directors and staff of warrants to purchase 5p Ordinary Shares of the Company as follows:

Name Number of Warrants Exercise Price over Ordinary 5p Shares A N Brewer 105,000 68.50p C.J Foss 192,500 68.50p G L Heard 175,000 68.50p R.H.R Latham 105,000 68.50p D.R Musgrove 280,000 68.50p J.M White 105,000 68.50p Employees 785,000 68.50p

The Board of Directors of Northern resolved at a Board Meeting on 30 December to issue the warrants at the prevailing mid-market price at close of business on that day, being 68.50p. The warrants issued to directors are subject to a lock in until 1 January 2011 while the employee warrants are subject to rolling lock ins that start from 1 July 2009.

The warrants have been issued as a continuation of the Board's policy of providing significant non cash performance based incentives to directors and employees, and are in recognition of the substantial profits and reserves growth the Company has achieved in the past two years.

---ENDS---

For further information please contact:

Northern Petroleum Plc Tel: +44 (0) 20 7469 2900

Derek Musgrove, Managing Director

Chris Foss, Finance Director

Graham Heard, Exploration & Technical Director

Investec Tel: +44 (0) 20 7597 5000

Michael Ansell / Patrick Robb

Blue Oar Tel: +44 (0) 20 7448 4400

Jerry Keen / Toby Gibbs

Bishopsgate Communications (Press) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7562 3350

Nick Rome / Maxine Barnes

Buchanan Communications (Analysts) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466 5000

Tim Thompson / Ben Romney

Notes to Editors:

Further information on Northern is available at www.northpet.com.