Black Marlin Acquisition Opens Up East Africa Horizons for Afren

Afren plc  announces that the Scheme of Arrangement relating to the Acquisition of Black Marlin Energy Holdings Limited  by Afren plc received BVI court approval on 6th October 2010 and that the Acquisition completed on the 7 October 2010.

Pursuant to the Acquisition, 76,776,096 ordinary shares in the capital of the Company have been issued, allotted and credited as fully paid to the shareholders of Black Marlin and will today be admitted to the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s main market for listed securities today at 08.00 a.m. (London time). Merrill Lynch International is acting as Sponsor to Afren.

The total issued share capital of Afren plc pursuant to the Acquisition will be 968,159,864 ordinary shares with voting rights. No ordinary shares are held in treasury. The above figure 968,159,864 ordinary shares may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, Afren plc under the FSA’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

In line with the Company’s founding pan African strategy, the Acquisition has established Afren with a multi country platform in East Africa, comprising twelve assets across Kenya, Madagascar, the Seychelles and Ethiopia. This is a complementary extension to Afren’s existing West African business, enhancing the Company’s exposure to the full cycle E&P value chain.

Encouragingly all licenses acquired in connection with the Acquisition are located in basins with proved working hydrocarbon systems, and importantly offer the potential for large scale oil discoveries. Net prospective resources attributable to Afren’s interest are estimated to be 1.2 billion barrels.

The Company is well positioned to leverage its West African cash generative production base to test this potential with the drill bit. A multi-well exploration campaign has been defined through to end 2012, and ongoing studies are expected to unlock further prospectivity. To aid this process, following the Acquisition, Afren now benefits from ownership of one of the largest East African seismic databases.

Afren has today launched a dedicated website detailing its East African business, Afren East Africa Exploration.

Pursuant to an exemption decision granted by applicable Canadian securities regulators, Afren will satisfy its oil and gas activities disclosure obligations under Canadian securities laws by complying with the reporting requirements of the UK Financial Services Authority (“FSA”) and Afren’s continuing obligations under the FSA’s Listing Rules, its disclosure obligations under the FSA’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules and, where relevant, the applicable guidelines of the Committee of European Securities Regulators with respect to the disclosure of oil and gas activities, instead of complying with National Instrument 51-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities.

Osman Shahenshah, Chief Executive of Afren, commented:

“The Acquisition of Black Marlin has opened up a new core area of exploration focus for Afren, at a time when the region has yielded significant discoveries, yet remains relatively under explored. It provides Afren with a position of scale, and a unique opportunity to participate in multiple, potentially high impact exploration opportunities that are in balance with our established West African production and asset base.”

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Source:Afren , October 8, 2010;