New Application to Drill in Hampshire

Northern has today submitted an Application for Planning Consent for the drilling of the Hedge End-2 well from a site towards Botley owned by the Hampshire District Council. The well will test an oil discovery made in 1988 which was cored and logged but not tested, a decision believed to have been taken due to poor core recovery and the oil market conditions at the time. More recently Northern has materially revised the methods for interpretation of logs in the Great Oolite formations in the Weald Basin and as a result believes that Hedge End-1 was an oil discovery of 50 to 125 million barrels of oil in place. The substantial range of the estimates is due to the Hedge End-1 well being drilled entirely above the oil water contact. Northern is the licence Operator holding a 50% interest.

Isle of Wight - Update

Northern also announces that final agreement has been reached with The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs regarding the site from which the Bouldnor Copse-1 well will be drilled. Planning Approval having already been granted on October 26th 2004.

Site clearance work will begin shortly under the control of The Forestry Commission and site construction thereafter on a schedule that should permit the drilling of Bouldnor Copse-1 immediately following completion of operations at the Sandhills-2 well-site.

The Bouldnor Copse-1 exploration well on licence PEDL 089 in which Northern hold a 70.0% interest will be drilled to test prospects at both Jurassic (Great Oolite) and Triassic (Sherwood Sandstone) levels with an estimate of greater than 200 million barrels of oil in place with an upside potential of almost 400 million barrels, but extending into three other licences of which Northern is the Operator holding interests between 57.5% and 66.125%.

Northern is also pleased to announce that at the Sandhills-2 site on PEDL 113 the main site construction phase is complete. The timing of drilling operations will be announced once the drilling rig contract, currently under negotiation, has been concluded. Northern will hold a 57.5% interest in the licence.

Spain - Update

Northern also announces that in Spain, where its 100% subsidiary, Northern Petroleum Exploration Limited is the Operator and has a 45% interest in the Ayoluengo oil field, a programme to perforate previously untapped formations within the production intervals has been agreed with partners. The programme is to be undertaken in two phases and involves all of the currently producing oil wells. This is viewed by Northern as a welcomed positive commitment by partners to increasing production at Ayoluengo in conjunction with an ongoing cost cutting programme and could lead to an increase in production of between 25% and 100%.

For further information please contact,

Derek Musgrove, Managing Director
Northern Petroleum
Tel. 020 7743 6080

Ben Simons
Hansard Communications
Tel. 020 7245 1100