Extension of Permit

Kea Petroleum plc

("Kea" or the "Group") 

Extension of Permit

Kea Petroleum plc (AIM: KEA), the oil and gas exploration company focused on New Zealand, is pleased to announce that an extension has been granted to the area of PEP 51155. This extension increases the area of the permit by approximately 9% to 286km2 and has been granted to allow Kea to conduct exploration activities over the Hickman lead which extended beyond the previous block boundary.

Kea is currently in advanced planning to acquire approximately 58km of 2D seismic over the Hickman lead which has been identified as an Alliance Project and is being partially funded by Methanex under the pre-existing Alliance Agreement between Methanex and Kea. The Hickman lead is a large sub-thrust feature that lies between the current Kea Mauku 1 well currently being drilled on PEP 381204 to the North and the Mangahewa field to the South, which addresses a mean possible recoverable resource (P50) of 173 billion cubic feet of gas and 6 million barrels of condensate as per management's conservative estimates.

This release has been approved by non-executive director Peter Mikkelsen FGS, AAPG, who has consented to the inclusion of the technical information in this release in the form and context in which it appears.

To learn more about Kea Petroleum, visit: www.keapetroleum.com or contact:

Notes to Editors:

Kea Petroleum is an AIM listed oil and gas exploration company with interests in four petroleum exploration permits in the Taranaki Basin of New Zealand. Kea listed on the London AIM market in February 2010.