Commencement of Drilling

16 May 2016

Baron Oil plc

("Baron" or "the Company")

Woodburn Forest-1 well - commencement of drilling

The Board of Baron notes the announcement released today by InfraStrata plc ("Infrastrata") regarding the commencement of drilling of the Woodburn Forest-1 well in Northern Ireland Petroleum Licence PL1/10 ("PL1/10"). Under the terms of the Farmout Agreement announced on 19 January 2016, Baron will earn a 10% interest in PL1/10. 

The Infrastrata announcement is repeated in full below:

"InfraStrata plc (AIM:INFA), the independent petroleum exploration and gas storage company, is pleased to announce that drilling has commenced at Woodburn Forest in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The drilling of the well is expected to take around six weeks to complete.

The well will be drilled to a depth of 2,000 metres and target three conventional sandstone reservoir intervals, the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone, Lower Permian Sandstone and Carboniferous Sandstones. The P50 Prospective Resources have been estimated by the joint venture at 25 million barrels of oil within the Woodburn Forest prospect.

Following completion of the drilling, the well will be plugged and abandoned and the site will be restored to its former state. In the event of encouraging results from the well, any re‐establishment of the site for further works, such as testing, would require further consents and planning approval."

Commenting, Bill Colvin, Chairman and CEO of Baron said:

"We are pleased that InfraStrata has finally been able to begin drilling this important exploration well onshore Northern Ireland. We evaluated the subsurface technical data on this well for some considerable time before agreeing a farm-in deal with the original licence holders.

This is the first oil exploration well to be drilled with the aid of seismic data in the main part of the Larne-Lough Neagh basin. We are excited that major advances in seismic processing technology have enabled us to define a clearer picture of the deep structure beneath the thick surface basalt layer.

InfraStrata have impressed us with the professional way they have gone about their business on the well planning and implementation in very difficult circumstances. We will continue to work closely with them and fully support them throughout the current period of drilling and beyond. InfraStrata carried out a safe and successful salt appraisal well last year on the Islandmagee storage project approximately 10 miles from the current well location and we are confident they will do the same at Woodburn Forest."

For further information:

Baron Oil Plc

Bill Colvin (Chairman & CEO)                                         Tel: +44 (0) 7780 684 108

Cantor Fitzgerald Europe 

Nominated Adviser and Broker

Sarah Wharry (Corporate Finance)                                 Tel:  +44 (0) 20 7894 7000