BLUE WATER ENERGY ANNOUNCE $250M COMMITMENT TO WELLESLEY PETROLEUM AND APPOINTMENT OF CHRIS ELLIOT AS CEO

14 June 2015

– Experienced management team led by Chris Elliott, Former Exploration Manager at Agora Oil & Gas

– Initial investment of up to $250 million with Blue Water Energy and affiliates agreed

Stavanger, 15th June 2015 – Wellesley Petroleum Holdings Limited (together with its subsidiaries referred to as “Wellesley Petroleum” or “the Company”), a new exploration company focused exclusively on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (“NCS”), today announced that Chris Elliott has been appointed as CEO.

Wellesley Petroleum was established in February 2015 by management and Blue Water Energy, as an oil and gas exploration company based in Stavanger, Norway. Affiliates of Blue Water Energy have agreed to an initial investment of up to $250 million in the Company. Wellesley Petroleum has built a top quality team of explorers, the majority of whom have worked together in larger IOCs and smaller North Sea explorers for over 15 years. In particular, the team was key to constructing the highly successful licence portfolios of Revus Energy and Agora Oil & Gas, North Sea exploration companies subsequently acquired by Wintershall and Cairn Energy PLC respectively.

Chris Elliott, CEO of Wellesley Petroleum, commented, “This is a compelling time to enter the exploration market with a strong, experienced team and a substantial funding line. We continue to believe that Norway can deliver material discoveries, but it requires strong technical skills and extensive experience in the North Sea to develop exciting new prospects. I am delighted to be working together again with my Revus & Agora colleagues and to have long-term financial backing from an experienced investor with whom we have had a very productive history of working with.”

Graeme Sword, Partner of Blue Water Energy, said, “E&P continues to be a key part of our fund strategy and we are pleased to have established our second E&P business in the North Sea. We have a strong belief that best-in-class management teams can generate attractive returns pursuing an exploration strategy in Norway. I am delighted to once again be working with the former Revus Energy & Agora Oil & Gas exploration team.”

Wellesley Petroleum’s strategy is to develop and drill a portfolio of exploration and appraisal prospects on the NCS, through participation in licence rounds and farm-in transactions. Key to the plan will be to draw on the team’s deep local exploration experience to generate new prospects on old and new acreage. The Company has a long term strategic view on exploration, seeing a counter-cyclical opportunity in the current market where the sector is cutting its exploration spend rapidly.

Dr. Elliott’s last role was Exploration Manager UK and Norway for Cairn Energy PLC, following its acquisition of Agora Oil & Gas in April 2012. At the time of the acquisition, Dr. Elliott was the Exploration Manager at Agora, a company that he co-founded in May 2009. Dr. Elliott was previously the Deputy Exploration Manager at Revus Energy until the acquisition by Wintershall in November 2008. The Wellesley exploration team has been involved in discoveries totalling ~1 billion boe across the UKCS and NCS since 2004.

At Wellesley Petroleum, Dr. Elliott will be joined by a highly experienced team, including Callum Smyth as Chief Operating Officer, Olivier Hopkes as Chief Financial Officer, Jan Tore Paulsen as Exploration Manager, Richard Tiley as Exploration Business Development Manager and Helge Hamre as Head of HSE & Operations. Jamie Haynes as Chief Geophysicist and Tore Berg as Chief Geologist head a technical team that has worked together for over 15 years, including at Revus Energy and Agora Oil & Gas.

Contacts – for all enquiries please contact:

Blue Water Energy contact:
Frazer Blyth
T: +44 (0) 207 2905090
M: +44 (0) 7793 041618
E: [email protected]

Wellesley Petroleum contact:
Callum Smyth
T: +47 9527 1568
E: [email protected]

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