PetroNor E&P ASA

STATEMENT TO RECENT PRESS

The Board of African Petroleum Corporation Limited ("African

Petroleum" or the "Company") notes the article published on

Reuters today regarding its A1 and A4 licences in The Gambia

("the Licences").

The Board of African Petroleum maintains that the comments

assigned to a Gambian official stating that our ownership of

the Licences has expired is wrong both in law and in fact.

The Board states categorically that the licences have not

been terminated in accordance with the terms of the Licences,

nor have they expired.

As previously communicated to stakeholders, the terms of the

Licences state that the Licences remain active unless and

until a termination procedure is enacted by the State. No

such termination procedure has been enacted by the State and

African Petroleum therefore reserves its legal rights over

the licences.

The Company has invested over US$64 million in The Gambia

under the Licences, has undertaken extensive technical

analysis of the oil resources and remains committed to the

exploration and development of the licenced areas.

The Company will provide an update to stakeholders in due

course.

For further information, please contact:

Jens Pace, Chief Executive Officer

Stephen West, Chief Financial Officer

Tel: +44 20 3655 7810

Angeline Hicks, Company Secretary

Tel: + 61 401 489 883

Media Contacts:

Buchanan

Ben Romney/Chris Judd

Tel: +44 207 466 5000

About African Petroleum

African Petroleum is an independent oil and gas exploration

company with an equity interest in eight licences in four

countries offshore West Africa (Senegal, The Gambia, Côte

d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone). The Company's assets are located

in proven hydrocarbon basins in the West African Transform

Margin and the Atlantic Margin, where several discoveries

have been made in recent years.

For more information about African Petroleum, please see

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