RNS Number:4349N
Premier Oil PLC
11 July 2003





                               PREMIER OIL PLC
                                  ("Premier")

      Premier Revives North Sea Exploration and Sells Non-Core UK Assets

Entry to UK Moray Firth Licence

Premier is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with Reach
Exploration Limited ("Reach") to acquire a 50% interest in licence P1048 in the
Moray Firth blocks 20/10b, 21/6a, 20/15a and 21/11b. The licence is on trend
with the Buzzard discovery. Reach will retain a 5% carried interest having also
farmed out a 30% interest to Intrepid Energy North Sea Ltd and a 15% interest to
First Oil Expro Ltd on the same terms. The DTI has approved the assignment of
this licence and it has been agreed that Premier will become operator.

The licence was originally awarded to Reach in the 20th Round under a 4 year
drill or drop obligation. Farminees are under an obligation to reprocess 400 sq
km of 3D seismic and to drill a well on the licence in order to retain their
equity. The joint venture plans to drill a well in Q2 2004 following seismic
reprocessing and selection of a well location by the end of 2003.

This is a significant milestone for the DTI's "Promote" initiative which aims to
stimulate increased levels of exploration investment by facilitating wider
access to seismic data.

Premier Sells Non-Core UK Assets

Premier is pleased to announce the sale of a package of non-core UK assets to
Atlantic Petroleum UK Limited for #8.2 million in cash, #3 million of which will
be made up of deferred payments linked to first oil from the discoveries.

The package includes a 3.75% interest in the Rob Roy, Ivanhoe and Hamish fields,
a 3.75% interest in the Perth discovery in block 15/21 near the Scott and
Telford fields, a 15% interest in the Chestnut field and an 11.03% interest in
block 20/2 which includes Premier's 8.27% interest in the Ettrick field. Premier
has retained a right to buy back into a 5.5% interest in block 20/2 (excluding
the Ettrick field) should there be further exploration success in the block.
These interests represent Premier's entire interest in each of these assets.

All sales are subject to DTI and joint venture partner approval, and pre-emption
for the interests in Rob Roy, Ivanhoe, and Hamish and Perth.

With the sale of shares in Australian Worldwide Exploration announced on 11 June
2003, Premier has reduced net debt this year by #18 million through the sale of
non-core assets. As at 31 December 2002, Premier reported proforma net debt of
#47.1 million. Taking the benefit of these sales into account, proforma net debt
and gearing falls to #29 million and 11% respectively.

Charles Jamieson, Chief Executive of Premier, said:

"The Buzzard discovery has stimulated new interest in the Moray Firth area of
the North Sea. Entry into this licence is an important step in the rejuvenation
of Premier's UK exploration portfolio and is consistent with our strategy of
accessing high quality exploration in our core areas.

Together with the sale of non-core assets, this demonstrates Premier's intention
to extract value from its portfolio and concentrate resources where we believe
we can add most value."





                                                                    11 July 2003




ENQUIRIES:

Premier Oil plc                                      Tel: 020 7730 1111
Charles Jamieson
John van der Welle

College Hill                                         Tel: 020 7457 2020
James Henderson


Background For Editors:

Premier Oil plc is a leading independent oil and gas company with producing
interests in the UK, Indonesia, and Pakistan. Exploration and appraisal is
ongoing in the UK, Indonesia, West Africa (Mauritania, Guinea Bissau and Gabon)
and South Asia (Pakistan and India).

On 16 September 2002 Premier announced a major restructuring involving the
transfer of interests in Myanmar and Indonesia to its major shareholders Amerada
Hess and Petronas in return for the cancellation of their combined 50 per cent.
shareholding in Premier, an injection of cash and repayment of Myanmar project
debt. The restructuring leaves Premier as a fully independent oil company in a
good position to follow its strategy of value creation and early realisation
through oil and gas exploration and commercial deal-making.

The partners and interests in licence P1048 on completion of this deal will be:


                                                                Licence P1048
Premier Oil Exploration Ltd (Operator)                               50%

Intrepid Energy North Sea Ltd                                        30%
First Oil Expro Limited                                              15%
Reach Exploration Ltd                                                5%*

* Reach interest carried by other co-venturers prorata to their interest.




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