16 July 2007

Acquisition of US Oil & Gas Assets Reserve Statement

Irvine Energy Plc, the AIM listed oil and gas exploration company through its wholly owned subsidiaries, has signed an agreement ("Agreement") with Metro Energy Group Inc ("Metro"), subject to due diligence and arrangement of necessary funding, to purchase producing and prospective oil and gas acreage in Oklahoma and Kansas and provides an estimated reserve statement on its entire portfolio post acquisition. The agreement with Metro will expand the Company's current land position in Kansas and provide it with low cost oil and gas production and developments within highly prospective oil and gas regions. Irvine also announces that it has commenced an aggressive two year work programme at its conventional and shale assets in Kansas, and upon completion of the acquisition, will expand this to encompass the new assets in Oklahoma and northern Kansas

Highlights

Acquisitions

• Up to 50% working interest in 50,000 acres of oil and gas leases containing the Woodford/Caney Shales and multiple conventional reservoirs in Oklahoma. Irvine's net interest will include:
  • 40 BCFE of proven reserves ("1P"), and probable reserves ("2P") reserves (estimated, unaudited)
  • 409 thousand cubic feet per day equivalent ("Mcfde") net daily production from initial wells as of 1 July 2007
  • Access to 54 square miles of processed and interpreted 3D seismic data
  • Large prospect inventory with up to 550 drilling locations identified
• 50% working interest in 4,490 acres in low cost Niobrara shallow gas development in Kansas expected to commence production in late 2007

Reserves

• Initial un-audited estimate of 37 billion cubic feet equivalent ("BCFE") possible reserves ("3P") and 103 billion cubic feet equivalent ("BCFE") contingent reserves ("C3") in previously acquired Kansas acreage (112,000 acres)
• Total estimated reserves (un-audited) post acquisition of 370 BCFE with addition of 3 BCFE proven reserves ("1P"), 46 BCFE probable reserves ("2P"), 63 BCFE possible reserves ("3P") and 118 BCFE contingent reserves ("C3").

Work Programme

• Up to 30 wells planned for 2007 and 60 new wells planned for 2008
• Indicative terms received for US$$50 million mezzanine drilling finance facility
• Significant working interest in total land inventory of approximately 170,000 acres (110,000 net acres to the Company)

Irvine Chairman Doug Manner said, "This is an extremely exciting time for Irvine. The acquisition is a major step change of activity for the Company, advancing its development by 12-18 months. It will add the prolific Woodford and Caney Shales to our portfolio, complementing our activities on our acreage in Kansas, which is underlain by the prospective Chattanooga Shale. Metro has now commenced an aggressive work programme encompassing both Kansas and Oklahoma, which begins the planned completion of 30 new wells in the remaining half of 2007. We look forward to being able to provide shareholders with regular updates of our activities in the US and bringing some of our 3P reserves up to 1P / 2P as the work programme progresses."

Acquisition Agreement

Under the terms of the Agreement, Irvine will acquire from Metro:

• Up to 50% working interest in 52,000 acres of oil and gas leases in Oklahoma ("Oklahoma Project"), covering the proven Woodford Shale and emerging Caney Shale, as well as multiple stacked conventional reservoirs, for US$$9.35 million in cash. The Oklahoma Project includes 20 producing oil and gas wells
• 50% working interest in 4,490 acres in Kansas targeting the Niobrara shallow gas play ("Niobrara Project") for US$$1.75 million in cash.

The Agreement is conditional on Irvine finalising appropriate financing, which may include the placing of new ordinary shares, and ordinary due diligence.

Metro will be the operator for the Oklahoma Project and Niobrara Project and will have a 50% working interest in the Niobrara Project. Its working interest in the Oklahoma Project is 25% in respect of approximately 10% of the area and 50% in respect of the remainder.

Land Position and Reserves

The Company's total land position following the completion of the Agreement is summarised below:

The Company's estimated, unaudited, gross and net attributable reserves, post the completion of the Agreement is:

Oklahoma Project

The Oklahoma Project ("AMI") comprises approximately 50,000 gross acres in Okmulgee, Okfuskee, McIntosh and Hughes counties. Generally, the Company's working interest will be 50%. However, approximately 10% of the acreage is subject to an option granted by Metro to a third party whereby if that option is exercised, the Company's working interest will be 25% on 10% of the acreage and the acquisition price will be adjusted so that the Company only pays for net acres delivered by Metro. The Board believes the Oklahoma Project will provide up to 400 unconventional drilling locations in the proven Caney/Woodford gas shales and up to 150 conventional drilling locations. Post acquisition the Oklahoma Project will include:

• Current net daily production to Irvine of 409 Mcfde
• A re-completion programme in respect of at least 10 conventional wells - the first of these re-completions has been successfully completed which will add 100 Mcfde net to Irvine
• 54 square miles of processed and interpreted 3D seismic, which has generated a large prospect inventory;
• Three initial drilled prospect wells (on conventional prospects generated by the 3D seismic) which are currently being completed. Early indications are that economic oil and gas is present in these wells.
• One horizontal and five vertical well bores in the Caney/Woodford gas shales, which are currently being completed. The initial tests of one of the verticals and the horizontal well are underway. Both wells are producing gas and load water at encouraging rates. Further information in relation to these wells will be released once reliable flow rates have been determined.

Management believes that the combination of stacked conventional and unconventional plays provides a balanced low risk, high capital efficiency development programme.

A drilling programme has been designed to exploit the low risk stacked conventional oil and gas targets as well as prove up the Caney/Woodford gas shale potential. Approximately 6 additional conventional drill wells are planned for 2007 and 18 more in 2008. Development of the Caney/Woodford Shale is planned to include 6 re-completions in 2007. In 2008, it is planned to drill an additional 6 Caney/Woodford vertical wells and 3 horizontal wells within the project area.

The Woodford Shale is now second only to the Barnett Shale in terms of economics and outperforms the Barnett as to production rates in areas just south of the Company's acreage position. It is expected that Irvine's Woodford wells should have lower rates because of the lower gas in place. However, significantly lower drilling costs due to shallower depths will allow for attractive overall rates of return. There are currently more than 200 producing horizontal Woodford wells across this basin with approximately 40 rigs running. As part of the new Area of Mutual Interest ('AMI') with Metro, Irvine will acquire an interest in several producing Woodford wells, including the Snell Heirs 2-19 which produces at rates better than Irvine's production type curve.

The Caney Shale is also known as the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas, where 270 wells are currently producing and another 90 are waiting on completion. Included in this acquisition are several Caney wells, including the Snell Heirs 1-20, which is currently producing according to the Company's production model. The existing 54 square mile 3D seismic revealed many conventional prospects that can be tested in conjunction with the Caney/Woodford shale targets. The first 2 wells (the Priegel 1-10 and Patriot 1-15) are testing conventional prospects identified from the 3D and appear highly successful. Both are in the completion phase. Due to the large number of producing zones in the Patriot 1-15, a second well (Patriot 2-15) was required to produce the shallower zones.

Niobrara Project

The Niobrara Project comprises acres in north-west Kansas. The Company's working interest will be 50%. It includes:

• 20 well bores completed in the Niobrara Formation with 13 tested at 50 Mcfd each.
• Total projected production from 20 wells is 1,000 Mcfd (500 Mcfd net to Irvine).
• All 20 wells will be put on line in late summer at a cost of approximately US$$0.5 million; and
• A further 80 well locations for expansion.

Connection of the 20 completed Niobrara wells to sales is expected to take place by the end of Q3 2007. It is estimated that 24 additional drill wells will be completed by year end 2008, with an additional 56 wells to be drilled in 2009. These wells are very shallow (1500 ft) and can be drilled and completed in less than one week at very low cost.

The Niobrara play in north-west Kansas has been extremely active, with Berry Petroleum recently acquiring over 400,000 gross acres around Irvine's AMI.

Mezzanine Finance

The Company is currently considering various fundraising options for working capital and has received indicative terms for a US$$50m mezzanine finance facility.

The information contained in this announcement was completed and reviewed by the Managing Director of Irvine Energy plc, Mr Aaron Close, who has over nine years experience as a geoscientist in the North American oil and gas sector, and is a graduate from the Colorado School of Mines Golden with a Bachelor of Science, Mathematics and Computer Science Engineering and Geophysics. Mr Close is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

All reserves statements in this announcement have been prepared in accordance with the Society of Petroleum Engineers Petroleum Resource Management System for Reserves 2007 http://www.spe.org/spe-app/spe/industry/reserves/prms.htm ("SPE 2007 standard").

Additional information on the Caney (Fayetteville) and Woodford plays can be found on the Oklahoma Geologic Survey website at http://www.ogs.ou.edu/oilgas.php and the Fayetteville play at http://www.aogc.state.ar.us/Fay_Shale_Data.htm

"Together with our operating partner Metro, we have already begun implementing an extensive seismic programme in our existing project area in the Chattanooga shale, to quantify both conventional exploration targets as well as actively evaluating the shale potential of the region. We will simultaneously execute an extensive work programme on the new acquisitions to further quantify the value of the areas in the AMI. We are very pleased to expand our excellent working relationship with Metro, which has considerable experience in the development of conventional and unconventional oil and gas projects."

For further information please contact:

Irvine Energy plc
Aaron Close, Tel: +1 281 647 7770

Irvine Energy plc
Michael Frayne, Tel: +44 (0) 207 766 7500

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

Glossary of Terms

Barnett Shale	Mississippian aged black shale that produces prolifically in the Fort Worth Basin in North Texas USA.
BCFE	Billion Standard Cubic Feet of Gas Equivalent.
Caney Shale	Mississippian aged black shale that produces in Oklahoma.
Woodford Shale	Devonian aged black shale that produces in Oklahoma
1P	Reserves that have over a 90% chance of being both producible and economic. Also referred to as "Proven"
2P	Reserves that have over a 50% chance of being both producible and economic. Also referred to as "Proven plus Probable".
3P	Reserves that have over a 10% chance of being both producible and economic. Also referred to as "Proven plus Probable plus Possible".
1C	Resources that have over a 90% chance of being producible but economics are not currently known.
2C	Resources that have over a 50% chance of being producible but economics are not currently known.
3C	Resources that have over a 10% chance of being producible but economics are not currently known.
3D Seismic	Geophysical data collected by sending sound into the earth and recording the reflected sound that returns, used to image the geology under the area being tested, to help evaluate its potential for production hydrocarbons.