Petroceltic International PLC : Regulatory Approval - Ain Tsila

Dublin

21th December 2012

Final regulatory approval for Ain Tsila Gas-Condensate Field Development

Petroceltic International plc ("Petroceltic" or "the Company"), the upstream oil and gas exploration and production company focused on North Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean is pleased to announce that the Algerian Competent Authorities have given their approval to the Plan of Development for the Ain Tsila gas-condensate field in the Illizi basin of Algeria.  This follows the declaration of commerciality which was made on 8th August 2012, on completion of an agreement with Sonatrach to market all of the produced gas from the Ain Tsila field. The project can now move forward into the 30 year development phase of the licence.  The approval is conditional on the partners committing to initiate certain  planning and development works associated with the field during 2013, with the objective of optimising the execution of the development programme.

Petroceltic holds a 56.625% working interest in this field, with Enel holding 18.375% and Sonatrach 25%. Petroceltic remains committed to undertaking a further 18.375% farm down of its interest in this asset during 2013.

The approved plan of development will involve the production of gross reserves of 2.1 Trillion Cubic Feet of sales gas, 67 million barrels of condensate and 108million barrels of Liquid Petroleum Gas.  Development planning will commence in 2013 and first gas is scheduled for the third quarter 2017, initially from an estimated 18 vertical wells produced through a new gas processing plant at an annual average wet gas plateau rate of 355 million standard cubic feet/day (10.05 million standard cubic metres/day). The plateau length is 14 years and an additional 106 development wells are estimated to be required during the period to maintain this production plateau.

Brian O'Cathain, Chief Executive of Petroceltic commented:

"This approval marks a major milestone for Petroceltic and allows us, along with our partners ENEL and Sonatrach, to move forward to focus on implementing the Development Plan with the goal of achieving first gas in the third Quarter of 2017. The regulatory approval of the plan of development should also allow Petroceltic to book the reserves associated with this asset and to finalise the outstanding financial arrangements associated with the farm-in by ENEL which was completed earlier this year"

Ends

For further information, please contact:

Brian O' Cathain/Tom Hickey, Petroceltic International         Tel: +353 (1) 421 8300

Philip Dennis/Rollo Crichton-Stuart,

Pelham Bell Pottinger                                                             Tel: +44 (20) 7861 3919

Joe Murray / Joe Heron, Murray Consultants                         Tel: +353 (1) 4980300

John Frain,  Davy                                                                    Tel: +353 (1) 679 6363

Dr. Dermot Corcoran, Head of Exploration, Petroceltic International plc, is the qualified person who has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this announcement. Dr. Corcoran has a B.Sc in Geology, a M.Sc. in Geophysics, and a Masters degree in Business Administration, all from the National University of Ireland, Galway. He also holds a Ph.D in Geology from Trinity College, Dublin. Dr. Corcoran has over 20 years experience in oil & gas exploration and production, and has previously worked at ExxonMobil, the Petrofina Group, and Statoil.

Notes to Editors:

Petroceltic International plc is a leading Upstream Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Company, focused on North Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, and listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM Market and the Irish Stock Exchange's ESM Market. The Company has production, exploration and development assets in Algeria, Egypt, Bulgaria, Romania, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Italy.