Mauku 1 Drilling Results

Kea Petroleum plc

("Kea" or the "Group")

Mauku 1 Drilling Results

Kea Petroleum plc (AIM: KEA), the oil and gas company focused on New Zealand, today announces drilling results from the Mauku 1 well.

Mauku 1, located in PEP381204 onshore Taranaki, reached a total depth of 3220m (measured depth) on 16 April 2013. The well intersected over 320m of the target Mangehewa formation which contained over 140m of reservoir quality sandstone.

Log analysis indicated that the well failed to intersect any hydrocarbon pay and consequently it will be plugged and abandoned.

The presence of a high quality reservoir section, and the information gathered during drilling and logging the well, will be important in guiding future exploration in PEP381204 and on the Eastern margin of the Taranaki basin.

Mauku 1 was drilled as part of a farm out alliance whereby half the cost of the well was met by Kea.

Ian Gowrie-Smith, Chairman of Kea Petroleum, commented: "Whilst this is not the drilling result we were looking for, the data we have collected will be very useful to the further exploration of the PEP381204 licence area. We are close to commissioning the production facilities at Puka, where we have achieved encouraging oil flow rates, and look forward to receiving cashflows from Puka in the near future."

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.

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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.