Afren

London, 8 May 2007 - Afren plc ("Afren" or "the Company") announces that it has entered into a Farm-In agreement with Independent Energy Limited ("IEL") for an interest in the Ofa Field, located in the Northern Niger Delta.

The Board of Afren is delighted to announce that it has entered into an agreement with IEL, an established indigenous Oil & Gas company, to farm into - and jointly develop - the Ofa Field ("Ofa"). IEL was awarded a 100 percent interest and operatorship of Ofa under the Federal Government of Nigeria's Marginal Field Programme.

Ofa is an undeveloped oil field in OML 30 located onshore in the Northern Niger Delta:

- A recent independent assessment by Gaffney, Cline & Associates estimates mean Stock Tank Oil Initially in Place ("STOIIP") of up to 150 mmbbls.
- The field is covered by good quality 3D seismic data and consists of up to eight oil bearing reservoir intervals in the Agbada Formation between 6,670 and 7,280 feet.
- Ofa is located close to existing infrastructure and within 15km of a number of Shell producing fields, including Afiesere, Eriemu, Kokori, Oweh, Olomoro and Ogini.

The field was initially discovered by Shell (Ofa-1) and subsequently appraised by the Ofa-2 well:

- The Ofa-1 exploratory well was drilled as a vertical well on the crest of a roll-over anticline structure to a total depth of 10,000 feet.
- Shell initially reported oil in three reservoir levels and the well was suspended as a discovery.
- The Ofa-2 appraisal well was drilled directionally on the southern flank of the structure at a distance of 3km south of Ofa-1 and encountered gas and condensate.

The forward work programme includes a well test scheduled for Summer 2007. The test involves re-entry of the Ofa-1 discovery and will test four out of the eight identified oil bearing zones. In addition, several cased hole logs will be run to confirm and update contacts in two key reservoirs, with the potential to add additional volumes. During the test, relevant reservoir parameters and crude samples will be collected for further analysis to optimise the development of the field. All the necessary contracts for the well test are in place and mobilisation to site is expected shortly.

The Farm-In Agreement signed between Afren and IEL defines the commercial terms under which Afren will participate with IEL in the development of Ofa, and is subject to requisite approvals. Under this agreement, Afren will be responsible for paying all costs for the development of the field, and will recover the costs from 80 percent of net field revenues. Following cost recovery Afren and IEL will share production revenue equally.

Osman Shahenshah, Chief Executive of Afren, commented:
"I am delighted to have formed another important partnership with a well established indigenous company. Participation in the development of the Ofa Field, a material near-term project with the potential to expand our current production target of 15,000 to 20,000 bopd in 2008, is a significant addition to the portfolio and is consistent with Afren's business model of partnering with indigenous companies in near-term production opportunities, with low cost development options."

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.

Independent Energy Limited

Independent Energy Limited ("IEL") was established in 2000 as an indigenous exploration and production company. IEL was awarded a 100 percent interest and operatorship of the Ofa Field, located onshore in Shell's OML 30 in the Northern Niger Delta, in 2004.

IEL has a strong and diverse Board and Management team including Dr Bamanga Tukur, Murtala Yar'Adua, Dr Steve Uhonmwangho, Mahmud Tukur, Chukwuemeka Ikelionwu and Shamsudeen Bello.

Note

In accordance with the AIM Rules, the drilling update information in this report has been reviewed and signed off by Dr Nick Johnson, who is Head of Exploration and Production at Afren Plc and has over 25 years relevant experience within the sector. He consents to the information in the form and context in which it appears. The Company estimates its reserves in accordance with the guidelines and definitions of the Society of Petroleum Engineers/World Petroleum Congress ("SPE/WPC") reserves classification (March 1997) using accepted engineering principles.