| CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - July 5, 2012) - Longford Energy Inc. (TSX VENTURE:LFD.H) ("Longford" or the "Company") announces that it has appointed Mr. Joao Saraiva e Silva to the board of directors of Longford. Mr. Saraiva e Silva takes the place vacated by Mr. David Argyle who has resigned from the board to focus on other commitments. Mr. Saraiva e Silva has over fourteen years of experience in the finance industry, with a special focus on the oil and gas sector. Over his career, Mr. Saraiva e Silva has gained significant experience across a number of jurisdictions as a banker, fund manager, board-level director and, more recently, as a senior executive. Mr. Saraiva e Silva started his career with the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs International in London, where he advised on M&A and capital markets transactions involving more than $100 billion of underlying assets and spanning a broad spectrum of clients, energy sub-sectors and geographies. In 2008, Mr. Saraiva e Silva joined the London office of Och-Ziff Capital to assume responsibility over the fund's energy investments across Europe, Middle East, Africa and South East Asia. In connection with this role, Mr. Saraiva e Silva was also appointed to serve as board-level director of a number of Och-Ziff backed oil & gas ventures. Since September 2011, Mr. Saraiva e Silva has been the CFO of PetroJava, an independent oil & gas player with operations in South-East Asia. Mr. Saraiva e Silva holds an Economics degree from Nova University, Lisbon. In connection with his appointment, Mr. Saraiva e Silva has been granted 250,000 stock options at a price of
.105. The options vest immediately on the date of grant, subject to a four month regulatory hold. The options remain subject to regulatory approval and expire on July 5, 2017. The board of Longford would like to thank Mr. David Argyle for his service to the Company and wish him well in the future. About Longford Energy Inc. |