Notification of Major Interest in Shares

TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARES

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

Afren plc

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

An acquisition or disposal of voting rights

X

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):

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

AXA S.A, 25 Avenue Matignon, 75008 Paris and its group of companies

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

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

25/08/2011

6. Date on which issuer notified:

26/08/2011

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

10%

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

B067275

108,127,426

108,127,426

500,000

500,000

106,791,037

0.05

9.98%

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

107,291,037

10.03%

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

Name of Company / Fund

Number of Shares

% of issued share capital

Alliance Capital Management

Indirect

2,673,062

0.249919

AXA

Direct

500,000

0.046748

AXA Financial, Inc

Indirect

95,711,573

8.948586

AXA IM Paris

Indirect

2,399,777

0.224368

AXA IM UK

Indirect

6,006,625

0.561591

Total Direct

Total Indirect

500,000

106,791,037

0.04675

9.98446

TOTAL

107,291,037

10.03121

Proxy Voting:

10. Name of the proxy holder:

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

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

13. Additional information:

14. Contact name:

Dimitios Tsamis

15. Contact telephone number:

020 7003 2806