Dana Petroleum plc is pleased to announce first oil production from its Matr-1XST well in the North Zeit Bay production sharing contract (PSC) area onshore in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt. This follows the recent approval of the Matr Development lease by the Ministry of Petroleum.

Matr-1XST, which is expected produce 1,200 boepd, is the third well producing oil via the Lorcan Processing Facility – alongside Lorcan-1XST and Fin-1X – operated by Dana in the North Zeit Bay PSC area, in which the company holds a 100% interest.

Dana estimates that there are reserves of at least 10 – 12 million boe (100% Dana) within the PSC area and Dana is currently planning to bring three further discoveries within the Matr Development lease (Calumn-1X, Abydos-1X and Omar-1X) onstream in the next year.

This latest success follows the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum’s approval, in November 2011, of "Petro Kareem" – a joint venture between Dana and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.

Petro Kareem will produce oil and gas from the Lorcan development lease, within the North Zeit Bay concession, located onshore in the Gulf of Suez, 320km south east of Cairo.

Dana’s Managing Director in Egypt, Nick Dancer, said:

"2011 was a successful year for Dana Egypt and I’m delighted that we’ve started 2012 with this positive news. We’ll continue our exploration programme this year with drilling campaigns in the Gulf of Suez, in the operated onshore North Zeit Bay and offshore South October PSC areas as well as in the non-operated PSC areas of West El Burullus Offshore in the Nile Delta and East Beni Suef in the Western Desert.

Dana looks forward to working closely with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation through our Petro Kareem joint venture to continue our success in the coming years."