Afren Receives all Approvals for Barda Rash Field

Afren plc issues the following trading statement and operations update, in advance of the Company’s 2011 full year results, which are scheduled for release on 27 March 2012. Information contained within this release is un-audited and is subject to further review.

Barda Rash PSC
Following the announcement in July 2011 that it had acquired a 60 per cent operated interest in the Barda Rash PSC and 20 per cent non-operated interest in the Ain Sifni PSC, in December 2011; the Company received all necessary approvals of the FDP for the Barda Rash discovery. Work is now focused on the development of 506 mmbbls of recoverable light oil, the first stage of which comprises re-entering the three existing wells that have been drilled at the field to date, completing them as production wells and commissioning a modular early production system. Production will be trucked to nearby pipeline export points and ultimately exported via the planned Taq Taq to Ceyhan export pipeline once constructed and commissioned. The Company will then commence the drilling and completion of multiple new development wells with the intention of increasing production to a planned trucking capacity of 35,000 bopd and ultimately to a targeted 125,000 bopd by 2017. Ongoing development beyond the light oil phases will then focus on the development and production of 964 mmbbls of recoverable heavier oil resource, offering further large-scale production growth potential over the medium to longer term.

Ain Sifni PSC
The operator, Hunt Oil, spudded the Jebel Simrit-2 exploration well at the end of October 2011. The well is seeking to prove and test Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic reservoirs at the western extent of the Jebel Simrit anticline structure and is drilling ahead in accordance with the planned schedule. In 2010, the Jebel Simrit-1 discovery well was drilled on the crest of the structure and logged continuous oil pay from 1,110m to 3,070m in Cretaceous and Jurassic reservoirs. Triassic reservoir targets were not penetrated by the well and no oil water contact was established. Subsequent exploration wells are also planned on the low risk East Simrit and Maqlub structures.