Northern announces that it has been advised by British Drilling and Freezing Limited (“BDF”) that the BDF-28 rig, currently at Grimethorpe Colliery and due to drill one further well nearby, will arrive on the Sandhills-2 drill site towards the end of June 2005.

Works to auger and set the conductor pipe at a depth of 80 feet are scheduled to commence on June 6th and, on completion, the unit will move to the Bouldnor Copse-1 site to set a conductor pipe there to a similar depth. These works are being undertaken by P.R. Marriott Drilling Limited. The use of an auger achieves a welcomed reduction in noise levels and small savings in drilling time and cost for these initial phases.

Northern had previously announced an anticipated drilling start date in April this year, as advised by the drilling contractor, BDF. In the event the time taken out of the drilling sequence to drill a gas vent relief well for UK Coal Plc enabled two other oil and gas exploration companies to gain both necessary planning consents and time to prepare their drill sites placing them in a position to exercise in full their options for use of the rig, a situation not envisaged by BDF in their previous advices to Northern.

Derek Musgrove, Managing Director of Northern stated “This immensely frustrating event is at last coming to an end. Long lead times have become a feature of the now buoyant oil exploration business. In this instance we had examined five potential rig contractors, including three from outside the UK, before contracting with BDF at the earliest moment at which they were prepared to commit to us

The delays started with the diverting of the rig, for safety issues, to Mattersley Colliery which allowed an unexpected sequence of drilling to arise, of which Northern had incomplete knowledge and no ability to affect. It has been a rare experience and I would like to thank the majority of Northern’s shareholders who have been supportive and given their encouragement through this period.

The recently announced reserve report included an independent petroleum engineering appraisal of our expectations for the Wessex-Channel Basin, one of our two main areas of interest in England. Now we will soon be in a position to test that expectation and the economic potential.”

For further information please contact:

Derek Musgrove/Graham Heard
Northern Petroleum
Tel. 020 7743 6080

Ben Simons/Chris Roberts
Hansard Communications
Tel. 020 7245 1100