The Directors are pleased to announce that Regal has commenced the drilling of an exploration well, RSD-1, on the Suceava Block, Romania.

The Suceava Block is one of the largest exploration blocks in Romania with an area of 4,103 square kilometres and is located in the Moldavia Platform, which contains several large commercial gas and condensate fields. The Suceava Block is located adjacent to and on the same geological trend as the largest commercial gas field in Romania, operated by Romgaz (the Romanian national gas company).

This, the second Regal operated well in Romania, is in the northwest of the Suceava Block, and has now commenced drilling.  It is scheduled to be drilled to its target depth of 1100 metres by the middle of December 2005, with a budget of $1.5 million.  The well has reservoir objectives within the Sarmatian sandstones.  All target intervals will be logged with complete logging suites, and if appropriate, flow tested.

For further information, please contact:

Regal Tel: 020 7408 9500
Roger Phillips, Finance Director 
 
Buchanan Communications Tel: 020 7466 5000
Bobby Morse / Ben Willey