Commencement of Drilling

For immediate release 6 April 2010

Hardy Oil and Gas plc

Commencement of Drilling

Hardy Oil and Gas plc (LSE: HDY.L), the oil and gas exploration and production company, with assets predominantly in India, announces the commencement of drilling of an exploration well (KGV-D3-W1) on the Company's KG-DWN-2003/1 (D3) exploration license.

This well, which is the fifth exploration well on D3, was spud on 2nd April 2010 using the Transocean rig the Deepwater Expedition in a water depth of 1,653 m. The target depth of the well, which aims to explore the hydrocarbon potential of Mio-Pliocene sands, is 3,514 m MDRT.

As previously announced, three consecutive gas discoveries have been made on D3: Dhirubhai 39, 41 and 44. Due to a limited window of rig availability, the fourth well, G1, was pre-drilled to the 20" casing point and will be re-entered to drill to the target depth in the future.

The D3 licence is located in the Krishna Godavari Basin on the East Coast of India and covers an area of approximately 3,288 km2. The licence terms require a minimum of six exploration wells to be drilled within the first exploration phase. The Company holds a 10 per cent participating interest in the block, with Reliance Industries Limited holding 90 per cent as operator.

For further information please contact:

Hardy Oil and Gas plc 020 7471 9850

Yogeshwar Sharma, Chief Executive Officer

Dinesh Dattani, Finance Director

Arden Partners plc 020 7614 5924

Richard Day

Matthew Armitt

Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000

Mark Edwards

Ben Romney

Glossary:

km2 square kilometres

m metres

MDRT measured depth from rotary table

Spud commenced drilling

NOTES TO THE EDITORS

Hardy Oil and Gas plc is an upstream international oil and gas company whose assets are principally in India. Its portfolio includes a blend of exploration, appraisal, development, and production assets. Hardy's goal is to evaluate and exploit its asset base with a view to creating significant value for its shareholders.

Hardy Oil and Gas plc has existing production from an offshore field in India's Cauvery Basin. Hardy also has interests in four offshore exploration blocks in India's Krishna Godavari, Saurashtra, and Cauvery Basins and one onshore exploration block in the Assam Basin and two development licences in Nigeria.

Hardy is incorporated under the laws of the Isle of Man and headquartered in London, UK. Ordinary shares of Hardy were admitted to the Official List and the London Stock Exchange's market for listed securities effective 20 February 2008 under the symbol HDY.

The Company's Indian assets are held through the wholly owned subsidiary Hardy Exploration & Production (India) Inc, located in Chennai, India. The Company's Nigerian assets are held through wholly owned subsidiary Hardy Oil Nigeria Limited, located in Lagos, Nigeria.

For further information, please refer to our website at www.hardyoil.com