Arrival of the Petrolia rig on Hook Head in the Celtic Sea, Ireland

Tórshavn, Faroe Islands 13th August 2007 - Atlantic Petroleum (OMX: FO-ATLA)
the international upstream oil and gas company, today announced that Atlantic
Petroleum and the SEL 2/07 partners have taken delivery of the Petrolia semi
submersible drilling rig (the “Petrolia”) from Island Oil and Gas Plc in
anticipation of its upcoming appraisal drilling programme on the Hook Head
structure in the Celtic Sea. Under the terms of the rig share agreement with
Island Oil and Gas Plc, Atlantic Petroleum and its partners have secured the
Petrolia for a 50 day drilling slot. 

The arrival of the Petrolia drilling rig on contract to the partnership means
that the drilling of the appraisal well on the Hook Head structure is imminent.
The well is likely to  be spudded later this week. 

About Hook Head

Atlantic Petroleum holds a 10% interest in Standard Exploration Licence (SEL)
2/07, which includes the Hook Head discovery. The licence is located in the
North Celtic Sea Basin, in about 80 metres of water, and approximately 60 km
off the Irish coast. Partners in this licence are: Providence Resources Plc
(operator) 40%, Atlantic Petroleum (Ireland Limited) 10%, Challenger Minerals
(Celtic Sea) Limited 15%, Dyas BV 15%, Forest Gate Resources Inc 15% and Sosina
Exploration Limited 5%. 

The Hook Head structure is a large anticline that was first drilled in 1971 by
Marathon. The IRL 50/11-1 well discovered hydrocarbons in five sandstone units
within the Lower Cretaceous. The well was not flow-tested due to severe
operational issues at the time. The IRL 50/11-2 appraisal well, drilled by
Marathon in 1975, was a delineation well at the down-dip edge of the structure.
Post-drill mapping by Marathon indicated that the crest of the structure is
located to the north-east of the IRL 50/11-1 discovery well. This mapping is
supported by the seismic data acquired by Providence and partners in 2006. The
IRL 50/11-C appraisal well will be drilled in a crestal location, some 2 km
northeast of the IRL 50/11-1 well. 
 


Further Details
Further details can be obtained from Wilhelm Petersen, Managing Director, tel
+298 350 100 (wilhelmp@petroleum.fo) or Teitur Samuelsen, Financial Manager,
tel +298 350 100 (teiturs@petroleum.fo). This announcement will be available,
together with other information about Atlantic Petroleum, on the company's
website: www.petroleum.fo.