29 April 2008

Production Commences at Niobrara

Irvine Energy plc, the AIM listed oil and gas exploration and production company, commenced production at the Niobrara oil and gas project in Kansas, USA on April 28th. Ten wells are now pumping with a total of 16 wells expected to be producing by early May. Gas sales contracts are in place and sales began at 11:00 am Mountain Time on April 28th. The Company is pleased to announce all wells are producing at or above expected rates.

The Niobrara project, in which Irvine acquired a 50% working interest in September 2007, comprises 4,490 acres of oil and gas licences in north-west Kansas. An initial 20 wells were selected for development, 16 of which are expected online by May, whilst the remaining wells wait to be perforated and stimulated ahead of sales. Development of a further 40 undrilled well locations at Niobrara will commence following the stabilisation of production from the initial 20 wells.

Irvine Energy Managing Director Aaron Close said, "We now have two of our three projects producing and generating cashflow. The work programme which followed the Niobrara acquisition was intensive and I am delighted that this has paid off, as we successfully moved into the production phase at Niobrara, with ten of our wells now producing. We now aim to aggressively expand our activities as we look to bring the remaining wells on line in the next few weeks and commence development drilling once we have established a stabilised production rate. We are also rapidly advancing our portfolio in Oklahoma and Kansas which will contribute to further production going forward."

The information contained in this announcement was completed and reviewed by the Managing Director of Irvine Energy plc, Mr Aaron Close, who has over ten 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.

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

Irvine Energy plc
Aaron Close, Tel: +1 214 908 6384

Irvine Energy plc
Michael Frayne, Tel: +44 (0) 20 7766 7500

Evolution Securities
Tim Redfern, Tel: +44 (0) 20 7071 4300

St Brides Media & Finance
Hugo de Salis, Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177

St Brides Media & Finance
Victoria Thomas, Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177

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 C3 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.