East West Petroleum Provides Update on Romanian Exploration Program

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Jan. 23, 2012) - East West Petroleum Corp. (TSX VENTURE:EW) (the "Company" or "East West") is pleased to provide an update on the Company's exploration program involving its 1,000,000 acre exploration position in western Romania.

The Company is pleased to report that it has finalized a farmout agreement with Gazpromneft's Serbian subsidiary, Naftna Industrija Srbije a. d. Novi Sad (NIS), covering the Company's four exploration Concessions EX-2 (Tria), EX-3 (Baile Felix), EX-7 (Periam) and EX-8 (Biled). Under the terms of the agreement, NIS will pay 100% of the four Concession work programs for the obligatory Phase 1 period (two years), plus an optional Phase 2 period. East West will retain a 15% participation interest in all four Concessions and be carried through to commercial development, with NIS holding the remaining 85% participation interest.

East West and NIS have also finalized a Joint Operating Agreement whereby NIS will assume operatorship on behalf of the partnership. NIS, the sole operator in the Serbian sector of the Pannonian Basin which offsets the EX-7 Periam and EX-8 Biled Concessions, is an active explorer and producer in the area, conducting numerous seismic, drilling, field development and production programs. In the first nine months of 2011, NIS' Serbian production averaged about 29,000 boepd. NIS recently discovered a new oil field (Mydan Deep) on the Romanian-Serbia border and work is underway to map a possible extension of the field into the EX-7 Concession. The well is undergoing extensive testing and is expected to be placed on production in the near future. NIS plans to utilize its technical expertise and drilling equipment to carry out operations and has established an operations base in Timisoara, Romania.

The Company has entered into an agreement with Geopetrol SA Ploiesti to conduct Environmental Baseline Surveys (EBS) and Environmental Impact Studies (EIS) on the four Concession areas to prepare for the seismic and drilling campaign. Geopetrol has commenced field work and is conducting a comprehensive review of existing environmental conditions. Geopetrol is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PETROSTAR S.A., a leading petroleum service company providing environmental research, consultancy, engineering and design services to the petroleum industry. PETROSTAR S.A. has over 50 years of experience and employs four hundred engineers and other specialists in Romania.

The four-block exploratory work program will evaluate multiple, conventional oil and gas targets plus an unconventional shale gas play. Previous exploration activity on this acreage has resulted in the discovery of multiple oil and gas fields at relatively shallow levels. The new exploratory program is planned to test deeper structures and stratigraphic traps which have been identified on the acreage. In Phase I, approximately 900 km. of 2D and 600 sq. km. of 3D seismic data will be acquired, with a minimum of 12 wells to be drilled on the four blocks. An optional Phase 2 program has similar levels of work program commitment. Once Government ratification of the Concessions is received and NAMR approves NIS as an operating partner, seismic and drilling operations will commence.

ABOUT EAST WEST PETROLEUM CORP.

East West Petroleum is a TSX Venture Exchange-listed company which was established in 2010 to invest in emerging international unconventional resource plays, leveraging management's knowledge of international opportunities and unconventional play technical expertise. In its first 18 months of operations, the Company has built an attractive platform of assets: an oil-prone, exploration block in the Assam region of India with the three largest E&P Indian firms ONGC, Oil India and GAIL; four exploration concessions covering 1,000,000 acres in the prolific Pannonian Basin of western Romania and a 500,000 acre exploration block onshore Morocco where conventional and unconventional oil potential has been delineated. The Company has also established oil and gas production in Canada. The Company's cash position of approximately $29.5 million and no future funding is required.

ABOUT NAFTNA INDUSTRIJA SRBIJE J.S.C. NOVI SAD

Naftna Industrija Srbije j.s.c. Novi Sad was established in 1991 as a public company for exploration, production, refining and trade in crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas. Since 2005, NIS has operated as a joint stock company. In 2009, based on the international agreement between Russia and Serbia, 51% of NIS shares were acquired by the Russian company "Gazprom Neft", one of the largest and fastest growing E&P companies in Russia. Today, NIS is one of the largest, vertically integrated oil and gas companies in Southeast Europe, dealing with exploration, production and refining of crude oil and natural gas, as well as with the sales of a broad range of petroleum products. In the first nine months of 2011, NIS's operating income totaled 138 billion RSD (approx. $1.8 billion).