Matra Petroleum plc, the oil and gas E&P company focused on Central Europe and Russia provides the following operational update in Hungary and Russia:

Russia

• Production commenced from the Arkhangelovskoe-12 well (Sokolovskoe discovery) on 31st December 2007. Further production and pressure data is being collected during this initial testing phase. The well is producing at ca. 100 bopd and the oil is being sold at the wellsite and trucked to a local rail terminal. The well is scheduled for reperforation and acid stimulation within the next two weeks, in order to improve productivity.

• Drilling on the Arkhangelovskoe -11 exploration well is continuing and has reached 800m. We expect to reach the first Devonian reservoir in approximately 35 days time.

• The acquisition of a further 130 km of 2 D seismic data on the southern extension of the block and on the northern part of the Sokolovskoe discovery has now been completed and the data is being processed. Reprocessing of the existing seismic over Sokolovskoe and further technical studies in support of the application for a production license are underway.

Hungary

• Testing on Horvatkut-1 on the Inke Concession in Hungary has now been completed. The well again tested at rates of up to 4 million scfd, however the reservoir intervals were shown to be of limited extent and pressure analysis concludes that the well is unlikely to be economic. The Horvatkut-1 well was a re-drill of an old discovery rather than part of the Direct Hydrocarbon Indicators (DHI) programme. As such this result has no impact on the Marcali-1 discovery or the ongoing exploration programme which is DHI driven. The well has been suspended.

• The workover rig is being moved to Marcali-1 and will begin testing operations shortly.

• Seismic modelling on the 2007 3D survey has now confirmed the presence of Direct Hydrocarbon Indicators (DHI’s) on several of the new prospects recently identified. Drilling of two wells on this new 3D area is expected to commence in the second quarter this year.

Peter Hind, Matra’s Managing Director said,"We are very pleased to have already established profitable production from our discovery in Russia and we are confident that we should improve well productivity very soon with our planned acid treatment and in future by installing a pump.Direct Hydrocarbon Indicators significantly de-risk the exploration prospects in the new playfairway on the Inke concession, and we expect this to bear fruit as we move forward through our 2008 drilling programme.It’s been a busy start to the year and we expect activity to increase throughout the year with more wells in both Russia and Hungary."

Matra has a 40% interest in the Inke wells and Concession. Horizon Hungarian Energy, a subsidiary of Aspect Holdings and a leading explorer in Hungary, owns the remaining 60%. Matra owns a 100% interest in the Arkhangelovskoe License through its wholly owned Russian subsidiary.