Gulf of Mexico Drilling Update

Immediate Release, 7 am

17 February 2012

Leni Gas & Oil PLC

("LGO" or the "Company")

Gulf of Mexico Drilling Update

Leni Gas & Oil plc today confirms the commencement of drilling operations with the Ocean Columbia jack-up rig at the Eugene Island Field in the US Gulf of Mexico.

Further to the brief delay announced on 7 February, the rig has now been moved from its previous operations at Eugene Island-51 to Eugene Island-184 (EI-184). The rig is now stationed over the EI-184 platform in approximately 88 feet of water and the legs have been lowered ready to commence operations to side track the well from a depth of approximately 7,600 feet.

The current operation, A-2ST01, is to sidetrack the existing A-2 well, in order to intersect with the Tex-X2 sandstones reservoirs. Drilling and evaluation is estimated to take three to four weeks. If successful, the well will be completed for production. The target fault block has an estimated mean recoverable reserve of 0.5 million barrels of oil within the Tex-X2 target level at a depth of approximately 13,000 feet subsea. A second sidetrack is also expected to be undertaken to the deeper Tex-X3 reservoir.

LGO holds a 7.25% working interest in the EI-184 and adjacent leases which are operated by Marlin Energy LLC. A further announcement will be made once the well has been evaluated.

Competent Person's Statement:

The information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and approved by Neil Ritson, Chief Executive Officer and Director for Leni Gas & Oil Plc, who has 35 years of relevant experience in the oil industry. Mr. Ritson is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, an Active Member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London.

Enquiries:

Leni Gas & Oil plc

Old Park Lane

Shore Capital

Pascal Keane +44 (0) 20 7408 4090

Jerry Keen (Corporate Broking)

Pelham Bell Pottinger

Beaumont Cornish Limited