HOUSTON, TX -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 11/14/2011 -- Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRZO) today announced plans to commence a private offering to eligible purchasers of $200 million aggregate principal amount of its senior unsecured notes due 2018. Carrizo intends to use the net proceeds from the proposed offering to repay a substantial portion of the borrowings outstanding under its senior secured revolving credit facility.

The notes to be offered have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or any state securities laws and, unless so registered, may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. The senior unsecured notes will be offered only to qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A under the Securities Act and non-U.S. persons under Regulation S.

This announcement shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the notes nor shall there be any sale of the notes in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. is a Houston-based energy company actively engaged in the exploration, development, exploitation, and production of oil and natural gas primarily in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, the Barnett Shale in North Texas, the Marcellus Shale in Appalachia, the Niobrara Formation in Colorado, and in proven onshore trends along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast regions. Carrizo is also actively developing its oil discovery known as the Huntington Field in the UK North Sea. Carrizo controls significant prospective acreage blocks and utilizes advanced drilling and completion technology along with sophisticated 3-D seismic techniques to identify potential oil and gas drilling opportunities and to optimize reserve recovery.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this news release, including but not limited to those relating to the proposed notes offering, the use of proceeds from the notes offering and other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations. Although Carrizo believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove correct. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include results of operations, market conditions, capital needs and uses and other risks and uncertainties that are beyond Carrizo's control, including those described in Carrizo's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 and in Carrizo's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made and Carrizo undertakes no obligation to correct or update forward-looking information. 


Contact: Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc.Richard HunterVice President of Investor RelationsPaul F. BolingChief Financial Officer(713) 328-1000