Rig Share Agreement on Foum Assaka Block

3 January 2014

Fastnet Oil & Gas plc

("Fastnet" or the "Company")

Rig Share Agreement for Foum Assaka Exploration Program

Highlights

· Rig secured to execute high impact drilling on Foum Assaka Block

· Drilling operations on the FA-1 (formerly Eagle-1) exploration well expected to commence in the first half of 2014

· Drilling operations expected to last up to 3 months

· Kosmos estimate the Foum Assaka Block to contain 360 mmboe of Pmean resources

· Fastnet fully funded to meet drilling commitments following recent farm-out and placing

Fastnet (AIM: FAST, ESM: FOI) the listed E&P company focused on near-term exploration acreage in Morocco and the Celtic Sea, welcomes the announcement by Kosmos Energy Limited ("Kosmos") that it has entered into a one well rig share agreement with BP plc ("BP") and Maersk Drilling, a unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, for the Maersk Discoverer rig. The rig is expected to commence drilling operations on the FA-1 (formerly Eagle-1) exploration well in the Foum Assaka Offshore block in Morocco during the first half of 2014. Kosmos has stated that it expects to spud the FA-1 well in the first half of the year, with drilling operations expected to take approximately three months to complete.

Fastnet will be carried through its share of the drilling costs by SK Innovation (subject to an agreed maximum spend) who entered into a farm-out agreement with the Company for a 12.5% paying interest in the Foum Assaka block. Completion of the farm-out remains subject to the customary closing conditions as previously announced.

Paul Griffiths, Managing Director of Fastnet said: 

"We are delighted that Kosmos has secured the required rig to execute our Foum Assaka exploration program with BP and SK beginning the first half of this year. We have moved quickly to prepare ourselves for drilling by independently securing our farm-in partner and ensuring the Company is well funded to deliver an exciting drilling programme offshore and onshore Morocco in 2014 in partnership with world class explorers. Fastnet's directors and experienced management team have never deviated from the Company's stated strategy of delivering shareholder value through the successful application of the drillbit at the earliest opportunity. Within 18 months of our admission to AIM we are now poised on the cusp of a wave of Moroccan drilling activity that maximises our potential for exit value in the success case given the industry-wide appetite for Moroccan exploration assets."