Directorate Change

Ophir Energy plc

Board changes

London, 19 June 2012: Ophir Energy plc ("Ophir" or "the Company") announces that Mr. Rajan Tandon has notified the Board that he will be stepping down as a Non-Executive Director at the Company's Annual General Meeting ("AGM") today. Rajan Tandon is an employee of Mittal Investments Sarl ("Mittal"), a major shareholder, and was appointed to the Board as Mittal's representative in September 2009.

As previously announced on 02 December 2011, Dr. Alan Stein, a co-founder of Ophir and formerly its Managing Director until May 2012, informed the Board that he will not stand for re-election as a Director at its AGM.

Nicholas Smith, Chairman of Ophir commented:

"We thank Rajan on behalf of the Board for his tremendous contribution and counsel to Ophir Energy over the past three years.

"The Board would also like to re-iterate our thanks to Alan, who has made an invaluable contribution to Ophir since day one, as both a co-founder and a leader of the Company. Alan's energy and expertise have been a major factor in the growth of Ophir to where it is today. We wish Alan every success for the future."

Ends

For Further Enquiries please contact:

Ophir Energy plc +44 (0)20 7290 5800

Nick Cooper, CEO

Stephanie Prior, Commercial Manager

FTI Consulting (PR Advisor to Ophir) +44 (0)20 7269 7157

Billy Clegg/Edward Westropp

Notes to Editors

Ophir Energy (OPHR.LN) is an African focussed, upstream oil and gas resource company which is a member of the FTSE 250. The Group's headquarters are located in London (England), with operational offices in Perth (Australia), Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), Dar es Salaam and Mtwara (Tanzania), Dakar (Senegal), Nairobi (Kenya) and Kampala (Uganda).

Ophir is the 5th largest deepwater acreage holder in Africa, present in five key emerging sub-Saharan exploration themes, and the largest net acreage holder in offshore East Africa. The company has an extensive and diversified portfolio of assets across East and West Africa comprising of 22 licenses, 18 offshore and 4 onshore, in 11 countries including Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Ophir has a 2012-13 drilling campaign of over 20 wells across a mixture of proven and frontier plays.

For further information on Ophir, please refer to www.ophir-energy.com