Starfish drilling update

Ophir Energy plc

Starfish drilling update

London, 10th July 2013: Ophir Energy plc ("Ophir" or "the Company") announces the completion of drilling activities on the Starfish-1 well in the Offshore Accra Contract Area offshore Ghana. Ophir holds a 20% participating interest in the licence and is operator.

Drilling update

Starfish-1 was drilled by the Stena DrillMax drillship in the frontier Keta basin, located within the West African Transform Margin play. The well was drilled in 1490m of water and reached a total depth of 4348m subsea. Wireling logging has confirmed the presence of a gross c. 230m sandstone interval in the primary (Lower Cretaceous) target interval although logs show these to be water wet. The secondary target ("Orca") contained poorly developed sands which were also water-bearing.

Well operations have been completed and the rig has now been released.

Nick Cooper, CEO, commented:

"Whilst it is disappointing that the first well on this licence has been unsuccessful, our primary reason for farming-in to this acreage was the play potential outboard of the Starfish prospect. The results of this well will provide valuable geological information as we look to analyse the further prospectivity of the licence area."

Ends

For Further Enquiries please contact:

Ophir Energy plc +44 (0)20 7290 5800

Nick Cooper, CEO

Richard Rose, Corporate Communications and Strategy

Brunswick Group +44 (0)20 7404 5959

Patrick Handley

Elizabeth Adams

Notes to Editors

Ophir Energy (OPHR.LN) is an African focussed, upstream oil and gas resource company which is a member of the FTSE 250. The Group's headquarters are located in London (England), with operational offices in Perth (Australia), Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), Dar es Salaam and Mtwara (Tanzania), Port Gentil (Gabon) and Nairobi (Kenya).

For further information on Ophir, please refer to www.ophir-energy.com