Notification of Major Interest in Shares

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

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

29/07/2011

6. Date on which issuer notified:

03/08/2011

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

105,898,285

105,898,285

300,000

300,000

107,143,231

0.03

10.02

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

107,443,231

10.05%

9. Chain

Name of the Company / Fund

Number of Shares

% of issued share capital

Alliance Capital Management

Indirect

2,579,321

0.24%

AXA

Direct

300,000

0.03

AXA Financial, Inc

Indirect

95,710,955

8.95

AXA IM Paris

Indirect

3,151,330

0.29

AXA IM UK

Indirect

5,701,625

0.53

Total Direct

Total Indirect

300,000

107,143,231

0.03

10.01

TOTAL

107,443,231

10.05

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:

N/A

14. Contact name:

Charles Tissier

15. Contact telephone number:

0207 0032 823