Melbana Energy Limited (ASX: MAY) (Melbana or Company), a 30% interest holder in and operator of Block 9 PSC onshore Cuba, advises that the planned Total Depth (TD) of the Alameda-2 well has been reached ahead of schedule.

Wireline logging of the Amistad interval has been completed with good quality results having been obtained throughout. Liners have now been run with flow testing of Unit 3 expected to commence by the end of the week, Cuba time. Testing of Unit 2 then Unit 1B will follow.

Melbana Energy's Executive Chairman, Andrew Purcell, commented: 'Excellent quality logs have been obtained over the entire Amistad interval - a great improvement on last time when logs could not be obtained over some of the most productive units. This has allowed us to calculate significantly more Net Pay as well as to understand more about the reservoir. We were encouraged by the fact that Unit 1A had natural flow to surface, particularly since no resource from this unit had been included in previous estimates of the most likely oil resource contained therein. Conservatively, we could be seeing 243 metres of Net Pay on logs for Units 1A, 1B and 2 - almost a threefold increase in what we were able to verify last time across the equivalent area. This is a great result in its own right, even before we consider that this number increases to 538 metres if we allow for the natural fracturing encountered. Logs for Unit 3 are still being analysed.'

Uplift to Net Pay Estimates 243 metres of Net Pay (47% of the gross interval of 1,131 metres measured depth) Analyses of logging results from the 8-1/2' hole run over Units 1A, 1B and 2 have been completed. Good results have been obtained from a conventional logging suite that has confirmed: 2 Permeability is present, as evidenced by valid pressure tests and, There is an oil column in Unit 1A which is separated by a seal from Unit 1B which has a substantial oil column with a different oil density to that seen in Unit 1A. Logs have shown the entire section is highly fractured with the presence of vuggy porosity within the limestone reservoirs confirming good porosity and storage capacity. The hole condition was excellent allowing all logs to be incorporated. The analysis was undertaken using a conventional suite of cut-offs: Porosity 9% Water Saturation 50% Vshale 40% This conservative approach has allowed a total of 243 metres of Net Pay to be calculated over a gross interval of 1,131 mMD (21%). Logging results over the equivalent units from Alameda1 only allowed 84 metres to be calculated. There is now estimated to be over 125 metres of Net Pay in Unit 1A alone, compared with 3.1 metres estimated from the previously available logs from Alameda-1. This estimate of Net Pay is considered conservative because the highly fractured limestones in Unit 1B generally have a background porosity less than 9% and therefore do not get picked up in conventional pay calculations. Using the logs to pick fractures then incorporating these into the Unit 1B calculations potentially increases Net Pay to 538 metres, or to about 47% of the encountered gross interval of 1,131 metres. An updated estimate of the prospective resources contained in the Amistad interval will be undertaken once the testing program is complete

ABOUT THE BLOCK 9 APPRAISAL WELL PROGRAM

Block 9 PSC is a large onshore area of more than 2,300km2 located on the north coast of Cuba in a proven hydrocarbon system and along trend with the multi-billion barrel Varadero oil field. Melbana's technical team has identified 19 structural prospects and leads within the block. Melbana completed an initial two well exploration program in 2022, the first of which (designated Alameda-1) encountered three geologically independent oil-bearing intervals, each with moveable oil accompanied by high pressure, that were subsequently independently estimated to contain oil in place of 5.0 billion barrels for a Prospective Resource of 267 million barrels (gross unrisked best estimate),1 - an 89% increase of the predrill prognosis.

Prospective Resources Cautionary Statement - The estimated quantities of petroleum that may potentially be recovered by the application of a future development project(s) related to undiscovered accumulations. These estimates have both an associated risk of discovery and a risk of development. Future exploration appraisal and evaluation is required to determine the existence of a significant quantity of potentially moveable hydrocarbons.

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