New Strategic Consortium Partners

2 May 2013

Trap Oil Group plc

("Trapoil" or the "Company")

New Strategic Consortium Partners

Trapoil (AIM: TRAP), the independent oil and gas exploration, appraisal and production company focused on the UK Continental Shelf ("UKCS") region of the North Sea, is pleased to provide the following update.

New Strategic Consortium Partners

TAQA Bratani UK Limited ("TAQA Bratani"), a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC ("TAQA"), and CIECO Exploration and Production UK Limited ("CIECO"), a wholly owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Corporation ("ITOCHU") (together, the "Parties"), have entered into an arrangement with Trapoil to consider future exploration and appraisal opportunities during the Department of Energy and Climate Change's ("DECC's") forthcoming UK 28th Seaward Licensing Round (the "28th Round") (the "New Partnership"). This arrangement supersedes Trapoil's previous partnering arrangements with Norwegian Energy Company UK Limited and Suncor Energy UK Limited which expired on 31 December 2012.

The arrangement sets out that each party will, in principle, hold equal working interests in prospects proposed by Trapoil for joint exploration and appraisal applications in the 28th Licensing Round. Each of the parties has agreed to pay Trapoil a lump-sum retainer and to partially carry Trapoil's portion of exploration and appraisal costs, or to provide data, work and services for any prospects to be studied under the terms of the Arrangement.

Trapoil anticipates that this new arrangement will give rise to a number of applications in the forthcoming 28th Round. The alliance will be led by Trapoil with operatorship of acquired licences to be reviewed on a case by case basis.

Mark Groves Gidney, Chief Executive Officer of Trapoil, commented:

"The formation of a strong and ambitious consortium with our new partners, TAQA Bratani and CIECO, will allow us to identify prospects for joint exploration and appraisal applications in the 28th Licencing Round and is a direct reflection of our considerable experience, expertise and technical capabilities together with our unique access, on negotiated terms, to state of the art seismic data from CGGVeritas, thereby offering our partners substantial economies in the initial appraisal of attractive opportunities."

Enquiries:

**ENDS**

martin David, Technical Director of the Company has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this announcement in his capacity as a qualified person under the AIM rules. Mr David holds a BSc degree in Geology from the University of London and has over 37' years experience in the oil industry.

Notes to editors:

·; TAQA (ADX: TAQA) is a diversified international energy group which is majority owned by the Abu Dhabi government and listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. TAQA Bratani is one of the fastest growing exploration and production companies working on the UKCS. Its UK portfolio includes operated and non operated assets in multiple fields historically focused on the Northern North Sea producing approximately 40 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day. Its other interests include infrastructure investments such as the Brent System of pipelines and associated facilities. TAQA Bratani recently announced that it had acquired a package of central North Sea oil and gas assets from BP PLC for consideration of more than US$1 billion.

·; ITOCHU is one of the leading general trading companies in Japan and is listed on the Tokyo and other principal Japanese stock exchanges. CIECO, together with its other group companies, has interests in four oil fields in the UK and an investment in the Brent System of pipelines and associated facilities.

·; The Group was created in 2008 by a team of experienced industry executives with a broad range of oil and gas technical, operational and financial expertise and professional skills.

·; Trapoil has developed long term relationships with key oil industry partners and major suppliers and consultants including CGGVeritas Services (UK) Limited ("CGGVeritas"), Applied Drilling Technology International and Exploration Geosciences Limited.

·; The Company utilises a research-led, knowledge-based approach to identify and deliver promising exploration and appraisal opportunities, and to this end has secured extensive long-term access to CGGVeritas' state of the art 3D seismic database over the majority of the Central North Sea area on negotiated terms. CGGVeritas is a leading pure-play geophysical services and equipment provider. Access to such 3D seismic data serves to strengthen the Group's ability to create opportunities on both open and held acreage in the UKCS.