Sale of Shares Oversubscribed

Brancote Holdings PLC
15 December 2000




Date               15 December 2000



Contacts       Richard Prickett, Chairman
               Bill Humphries, Managing Director
               Brancote Holdings PLC                     020 7493 1002


               David Bick
               Holborn Public Relations                  020 7929 5599
                                                                                
                                                 [e-mail]




                              BRANCOTE HOLDINGS PLC

                    HPD Exploration Plc - Offer for Sale

The Directors are pleased to announce that the Offer for Sale for 62,885,037
Ordinary Shares in HPD Exploration Plc at 1.5p per share has been
substantially oversubscribed.  The Offer was closed at 3pm on 14 December
2000.  Due to the high level of demand the basis of allocation for excess
shares will be announced during the course of next week.





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