Appointment of Dr Nick Cooper as Managing Director

06 June, 2011

Ophir Energy plc ("Ophir") is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Nick Cooper to the Board of Ophir as Managing Director.

Dr Cooper began his career as a geophysicist with BG and Amoco in the UK and various international locations. He then spent two years with the energy team at Booz-Allen & Hamilton, advising on upstream and gas development projects. In 1999, Dr Cooper completed an MBA at INSEAD and went on to join the oil and gas team at Goldman Sachs where he held the position of Vice President. In early 2005 he co-founded and became CFO of Salamander Energy plc, the Asia-focussed exploration and production company, which has grown from start-up to a FTSE250 constituent.

Ophir's founding Managing Director, Dr Alan Stein, will assume the role of Deputy Chairman with a focus upon business development.

Dr Alan Stein commented:

"We are delighted to have Nick join the management team at Ophir. Following on from our recent exploration successes in Tanzania and previous exploration successes in Equatorial Guinea this is an exciting time for the Company and I am sure Nick will be instrumental in maintaining and accelerating our growth in the months ahead."

Dr Nick Cooper commented:

"I am delighted to have joined Ophir at such an exciting time for the Company with its 11 well exploration and appraisal drilling campaign coming up over the next 18 months."