Emerald Energy plc is pleased to announce that it has entered into an
Association Contract for the Fortuna Block. Ecopetrol, the Colombian
state oil company holds 30% interest, Emerald 63% and Geoadinpro 7%.

The Fortuna contract area is in the Middle Magdalena Basin of
Colombia and covers 21,907 hectares. Emerald's initial work has
identified a shallow (+/- 1,500m) Tertiary exploration target in the
Lisama formation with a potential 18 mmbbls of recoverable oil. There
is also a deeper (+/- 2,500m) Cretaceous accumulation of oil in the
La Luna formation that has produced 0.8 mmbbl of oil and 0.3 bcf of
gas to date. The La Luna is estimated to contain 19 mmbbls of
recoverable oil.

The first years minimum work commitment is to reprocess 100 km of
existing 2D seismic and acquire 50 km of new seismic which will cost
$0.5m. If Emerald elects to enter the second year, the obligation
will be to either acquire an additional 45 km of seismic or drill an
exploration well to the Lisama at a cost of $0.5-$0.8m.

Alastair Beardsall, Emerald Energy's chairman said, "we are very
pleased to have entered into this Association Contract. The Fortuna
Block offers Emerald a low cost exploration opportunity with the
advantage of discovered hydrocarbons in the deeper horizon."


Name of contact and telephone number for queries

Alastair Beardsall  - 020 7925 2440


mmbbl = million barrels of oil
bcf = billion cubic feet of gas
km = kilometre



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