VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - April 4, 2011) - East West Petroleum Corp. (the "Company" or "East West Petroleum") (TSX VENTURE:EW) is pleased to announce that the Company has been informed by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons of India ("DGH") that it is the successful bidder for one exploration block in the New Exploration Licensing Policy ("NELP IX") competitive bid round held March 28^th, 2011. The Block lies in the Assam-Arakan Basin of northeast India. The DGH announced the winning bids March 28^th in New Delhi on a provisional basis, subject to final administrative review.

Block AA-ONN-2010/2 was awarded to a partnership consisting of Oil India Ltd. ("OIL") (Operator, 40%), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India ("ONGC") (30%), Gas Authority of India Ltd. ("GAIL") (20%) and East West Petroleum (10%). Under the NELP IX bidding procedures, bids from qualified companies were accepted and ranked based on technical capabilities, work programs commitments and commercial terms offered to the Government of India. The primary term of this exploration Production Sharing Contract is five years.

Block AA-ONN-2010/2, covering approximately 400 sq. km., lies within the Karbi Anglong District of the Assam-Arakan Basin, a proven petroliferous region which covers more than 116,000 sq. km in north-eastern India. Industry has been active in the region, with over 60,000 km. of 2D and more than 7600 sq. km. of 3D seismic data acquired, over 1000 wells drilled and 118 oil and gas fields found to date. Current production for the area is estimated at 95,000 BOEPD, with original oil in place estimated at 36 billion barrels. 

Greg Renwick, President & CEO commented: "This award represents the Company's entry into India and we are especially pleased to partner with the country's leading petroleum firms. We look forward to building on these alliances, especially as the country moves towards expansion of licensing its unconventional resources such as shale resource plays."

Added David Sidoo, Chairman: "This is a great honour and sign of confidence that the largest oil and gas companies in India have chosen East West Petroleum to partner with on the exploration and exploitation of this block. This is a testament to the unconventional expertise that the management team led by Dr. Marc Bustin will bring to this partnership with OIL, ONGC and GAIL."

Mr. B.N. Talukdar, Director (Exploration and Development) of Oil India Ltd. remarked, "OIL welcomes Canada's East West Petroleum as an exploration partner in the Karbi Anglong Block and our company looks forward to a long-term, productive upstream relationship with this firm."

About Oil India Ltd:

OIL is a premier Indian national oil company engaged in the business of exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas, transportation of crude oil and production of LPG. Currently OIL has a market cap of US$7 billion.

About Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India:

ONGC is India's largest E&P petroleum company. It is mainly engaged in the oil exploration and production activities. It has two segments: exploration and production, refining. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 (fiscal 2010), ONGC had a crude oil production of 32.95 million metric tons and natural gas production of 27.98 million metric tons. As of March 31, 2010, ONGC operates more than 22,000 kilometers of pipelines in India, including nearly 4,500 kilometres of sub-sea pipelines. Currently ONGC has a market cap of just over US$52 billion.

About Gas Authority of India Ltd:

GAIL is India's principal gas transmission and marketing company. GAIL is involved in all aspects of the Natural Gas value chain, which include: exploration & production, processing, transmission, distribution and marketing, and its related services. GAIL has a current market cap of US$12 billion.

ABOUT EAST WEST PETROLEUM CORP:

East West Petroleum Corp. trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol EW. East West is an emerging exploration and production company focused on conventional and unconventional petroleum resources. Currently East West has producing assets in Egypt and Canada, and exploration and exploitation assets in India, 5 million acres in a joint study agreement with Kuwait Energy in Egypt, Yemen, Russia and the Ukraine and one million acres in Romania.