10 January 2008

Irvine Energy plc completes acquisition of US Oil & Gas Leases

Irvine Energy plc, the AIM listed oil and gas exploration and production company, has completed the acquisition of a 50% working interest in a further 27,337.2 gross acres of oil and gas exploration and production leases in Oklahoma for a cash consideration of US$5,529,500 and unsecured loan notes of US$4 million.

The transaction completes Irvine's acquisition of oil and gas assets from its US partner Metro Energy announced on 16 July 2007, which was subject to due diligence and arrangement of necessary finance. The latest leasehold acquisition follows those announced on 3 September 2007, 8 November 2007 and 18 December 2007 and brings the Company's total portfolio of oil and gas exploration and production leases to 167,000 gross acres across Kansas and Oklahoma.

Irvine Managing Director Aaron Close said, "The deal with Metro has enabled us to rapidly accelerate our development, expand our land position, and provides us with low cost oil and gas production and exploration targets within highly prospective and proven oil and gas regions. This is a very positive beginning to 2008 especially as we have reached all our current acquisition targets on schedule and entered the production phase of our development.

"Moving into the New Year we plan to devote our attention to increasing our production levels and P1, P2 and P3 reserve estimates through our recompletion and ongoing drilling programmes which are being conducted in conjunction with Metro. Our portfolio consists of conventional reservoir and shallow oil and gas plays as well as unconventional shale targets which have already proven their economic potential in Texas and Oklahoma. Our portfolio has significant potential, our activity level is high, and our development profile rapid. We look forward to providing an update on our progress later this month."

The loan notes have been issued by Pinon Energy LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Irvine, to Metro Energy. The loan notes are repayable on 10 April 2008 and will bear an interest rate of 10% per annum on the outstanding principal. The loan notes will be secured by a mortgage over the production assets.

For further information please visit www.irvineenergy.com or contact:

Irvine Energy plc
Michael Frayne, Tel: +44 (0) 207 016 9579

Nabarro Wells & Co Ltd
Hugh Oram, Tel: +44 (0) 207 710 7400

St Brides Media & Finance
Hugo de Salis, Tel: +44 (0) 207 242 4477

St Brides Media & Finance
Felicity Edwards, Tel: +44 (0) 207 242 4477

Notes

Irvine Energy plc is an AIM listed company focussed on the development of onshore conventional and unconventional oil and gas projects in the USA. The Company currently has exploration and production projects in Kansas and Oklahoma, which it is operating and developing in conjunction with its joint venture partner Metro Energy Group ("Metro").

It is the Company's objective to become a significant player in both the conventional and unconventional USA oil and gas markets, by building a solid portfolio of assets within the highly prospective Kansas/Oklahoma region. Irvine has an aggressive growth strategy in place with a work programme to advance its production projects and upgrade its P3 resources to P1 status. The Board believes that by assembling a combination of conventional and unconventional plays, it provides the Company with a balanced low risk, high capital efficient development programme.