Northern Petroleum Plc announces further progress towards bringing four gas fields and two oilfields into production as well as drilling two exploration wells in the Netherlands.

At the Ottoland field, the side tracked well Ottoland-1ST2, drilled in 2008, has been successfully hydraulically fractured to enhance oil production flow rates. The well is currently flowing oil and testing is in progress and is expected to continue for some time.

At the Grolloo gas field the well work-over of the existing well is in progress to prepare the well for hydraulic fracturing of the reservoir formation as was successfully accomplished at Brakel and Wijk en Aalburg last year.

These hydraulic fracturing operations and flow tests will determine the final details of the production facilities design for the initial production phase and will assist in the projection of reservoir drainage in order to potentially locate further wells which will achieve increases in production.

The exploration well Niewendijk-1 which is located close to the Ottoland field will start drilling within the next week utilising the newly fabricated Northern Dutch Drilling Company drill rig mobilised from the Czech Republic. The Nieuwendijk prospect has a mean estimated size of 56 million barrels of oil in place.

Licence interests:
Northern Petroleum Nederland: 45%
EBN: 40%
Dyas: B.V. 15%

In accordance with the AIM Rules – Guidance for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies, the information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and signed off by the Exploration and Technical Director of Northern, Mr Graham Heard CGeol FGS, who has over 30 years experience as a petroleum geologist.

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

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