Emerald Energy Plc - 14 October 2004

New Contract Areas in Colombia

Emerald Energy Plc (“Emerald” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded two new Technical Evaluation Agreements (“TEA”) in the Llanos Basin of Colombia.

The Mantecal and Altamira Agreements, in which Emerald has a 100% working interest, cover areas of 1875 sq. km. and 2845 sq. km. respectively in the north of the Llanos Basin. The TEAs will last for ten months and during that period Emerald will carry out technical studies designed to identify the presence of prospective exploration areas.

Throughout the term of each TEA, the Company has the first right of refusal over any Exploration and Production Contract proposed by a third party that includes any part of the area covered by the TEA.

Alastair Beardsall, Emerald’s Chairman, said: “The award of the Mantecal and Altamira TEAs is a further demonstration of Emerald’s progress in securing further opportunities in Colombia at modest cost. We have ten months in which to evaluate these two promising exploration areas and have secured the first option on future Exploration and Production Contracts without having to commit to a seismic or drilling programme at this stage.”

Emerald currently produces in excess of 1800 barrels of oil per day in Colombia.

Press enquiries:
Alastair Beardsall, Chairman and Chief Executive -- 020 7925 2440

Notes to editors:
The Mantecal and Altamira Technical Evaluation Agreements were awarded to Emerald by the Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos (“ANH” – the National Hydrocarbon Agency), which became the exploration and production licensing agency of the Colombian government in July 2003 in place of the state oil company, Ecopetrol SA, that formerly had this function.

The technical work that Emerald has agreed to carry out under the TEAs includes 2D seismic reprocessing, surface and subsurface studies, studies of the existing well data and logistics and prospectivity studies.

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