Holding(s) in Company

TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARESi

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuerof existing shares to which voting rights areattached: ii

Circle Oil Plc

2 Reason for the notification (please tick the appropriate box or boxes):

An acquisition or disposal of voting rights

An acquisition or disposal of qualifying financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached

An acquisition or disposal of instruments with similar economic effect to qualifying financial instruments

An event changing the breakdown of voting rights

Other (please specify):

An internal crossing of shares between discretionary managed funds

X

3. Full name of person(s) subject to thenotification obligation: iii

Matterhorn Investment Management LLP

(and The Breithorn Master Fund - a non-beneficial fund under Matterhorn's discretionary management)

4. Full name of shareholder(s)  (if different from 3.):iv

Goldman Sachs Securities (Nominees) Limited

Morstan Nominees Limited

Credit Suisse Client Nominees (UK) Limited

UBS Private Banking Nominees Limited

5. Date of the transaction and date onwhich the threshold is crossed orreached: v

30th December 2011

6. Date on which issuer notified:

2nd January 2012

7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed orreached: vi, vii

Matterhorn has previously announced its 5% threshold level

8. Notified details:

A: Voting rights attached to shares viii, ix

Class/type ofshares

if possible usingthe ISIN CODE

Situation previousto the triggeringtransaction

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

NumberofShares

NumberofVotingRights

Numberof shares

Number of votingrights

% of voting rights x

Direct

Direct xi

Indirect xii

Direct

Indirect

Ordinary shares of €0.01 each

ISIN: IE00B034YN94

30,046,140

30,046,140

30,046,140

5.33%

B: Qualifying Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of financialinstrument

Expirationdate xiii

Exercise/Conversion Period xiv

Number of votingrights that may beacquired if theinstrument isexercised/ converted.

% of votingrights

C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments xv, xvi

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of financialinstrument

Exercise price

Expiration date xvii

Exercise/Conversion period xviii

Number of voting rights instrument refers to

% of voting rights xix, xx

Nominal

Delta

Total (A+B+C)

Number of voting rights

Percentage of voting rights

30,046,140

5.33%

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or thefinancial instruments are effectively held, if applicable: xxi

This notification is made as, following a recent internal crossing of shares, the interest held by The Breithorn Master Fund (a non-beneficial fund under the discretionary management of Matterhorn Investment Management LLP) has increased and crossed the 4% threshold. The Breithorn Master Fund now accounts for 23,111,585 shares representing 4.10%. Please note that these shares are included in the total number of shares held by the non-beneficial discretionary managed funds managed by Matterhorn Investment Management LLP.

Proxy Voting:

10. Name of the proxy holder:

N/A

11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will ceaseto hold:

N/A

12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to holdvoting rights:

N/A

13. Additional information:

N/A

14. Contact name:

Ewan Christian

15. Contact telephone number:

+44 (0)20 7340 2800