Afren

London, 17 April 2007 - Afren plc ("Afren" or "the Company") and its partner Amni International Petroleum Development Company ("AMNI") announce the signature of a contract for a Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) for the Okoro Setu Project, offshore Nigeria.

The Boards of Afren and AMNI are pleased to announce the signature of a contract for an FPSO vessel, the Armada Perkasa, which is the final milestone in ensuring the Company is positioned to commence production from the Okoro Setu Project in early 2008.

The Armada Perkasa is owned and operated by Bumi Armada Berhad, a major FPSO marine operator that is part of the Usaha Tegas group, one of the largest investment groups in Malaysia. The vessel storage capacity is 360,000 barrels with a processing capacity of 27,000 barrels per day. The vessel will be leased to the Okoro Setu project over a fixed 5 year period. The unit will process the total well fluids, producing stabilised crude for storage in the FPSO, with subsequent regular off-take by tanker.

Following the successful appraisal drilling programme, completed in December 2006, Afren has put in place the drilling capability, financing structure, development plan and now the production capacity for the Okoro Setu Project, in order to achieve its production target of 15,000 - 20,000 barrels per day in early 2008:

• Fully underwritten US$200 million debt facility
• Government approval for the Field Development Plan
• FPSO contract secured
• Development drilling scheduled to commence in Q3 2007 with the Global Santa Fe Adriatic VI drilling unit contracted for a nine month programme

Osman Shahenshah, Chief Executive of Afren, commented:

"It is testament to the strength of Afren's management and technical team, and its close working relationship with AMNI, its indigenous partner, that in less than a year since agreeing its involvement in the project the Company is now fully prepared and well positioned to commence production from the Okoro Setu Project in early 2008."

"This announcement represents the final in a series of operational milestones Afren has set out to achieve in recent months. We now look forward to continued progress on our new ventures pipeline and starting development drilling in Q3 2007."

Enquiries:

Afren plc
+44 (0) 20 7182 1800
Osman Shahenshah, Chief Executive  
Evert Jan Mulder, Chief Operating Officer  
Galib Virani, Investor Relations  

Jefferies International Limited
+44 (0) 20 7618 3500
Toby Hayward    
Jack Pryde    

Tristone Capital Limited
+44 (0) 20 7399 2480
Simon Ashby-Rudd    
Majid Shafiq    

Pelham Public Relations
+44 (0) 20 7743 6673
James Henderson    
Alisdair Haythornthwaite    

Background information

Afren (www.afren.com) was founded in December 2004 by a management team including Dr Rilwanu Lukman, (Chairman), Osman Shahenshah, (Chief Executive) and Bert Cooper (Advisor to the Board), with the vision to become the premier pan African independent Exploration and Production company. Since its listing on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, Afren has rapidly expanded its portfolio and the management team has delivered nine assets in the Joint Development Zone of Nigeria São Tomé and Príncipe, Nigeria, Gabon, Angola and Congo Brazzaville.

Afren will continue to add to its diversified portfolio of near term development and high impact exploration, with the overall objective of creating substantial shareholder value.