Appointment

Gulfsands Petroleum PLC
25 July 2006



25 July 2006



Gulfsands Petroleum plc
('Gulfsands' or 'the Company')


Gulfsands Appoints Andrew West as Non-Executive Chairman


Gulfsands Petroleum plc (symbol GPX), the AIM listed oil and gas exploration,
development and production company with activities in the USA, Syria and Iraq,
is pleased to report that the Company has appointed Mr. Andrew West, one of
Gulfsands' current non-executive directors, as non-executive Chairman of the
Board.


Effective today, Andrew West was appointed as the non-executive Chairman of the
Board.  Mr. West brings a high level of experience from his career as an
investment banker and former Chairman of Sibir Energy PLC.


Andrew West (48), a British subject and resident, is an investment banker with
nearly twenty-five years experience in London and New York. During his early
career he worked from 1981 to 1985 as a Vice President of Smith Barney & Co.,
and from 1985 to 1990 as an Executive Director of Lehman Brothers Limited,
specializing in mergers and acquisitions.  From 1990 to 1997 Mr. West was a
Director of Guinness Mahon & Co. Limited and a Managing Director of its
Corporate Finance Division and from 1997 to 1999 was Managing Director of Strand
Partners Limited, a privately-owned investment banking firm.


For the past several years Mr. West has worked independently and he is currently
a non-executive director of several companies, including Bellamy's of Bruton
Place Limited, a restaurant company, CLP Envirogas Holdings Limited, a renewable
energy company, First City Insurance Group Limited, an insurance broker, and
Abacus Syndicates Limited, a Lloyd's Managing Agency.  Mr. West has had
considerable previous experience advising in the oil and gas sector, including
playing a significant role in the establishment of Sibir Energy PLC, an AIM
listed oil and gas company with interests in Western Siberia, of which he was
Chairman for two years.



As Chairman, Andrew West will receive annual compensation of £50,000 and has
been granted options on 24 July 2006 over a further 75,000 ordinary shares of
5.714p each at £1.04 per share, exercisable by 24 July 2011.   Mr. West was
previously granted options on 13 February 2006 over 125,000 ordinary shares of
5.714p each at £1.445 per share, exercisable by 13 February 2011.



The Company plans to recruit a third non-executive director in the near term to
balance representation on the board with three executive and three non-executive
directors.



John Dorrier, CEO of Gulfsands Petroleum, said:



'Since his appointment as a Director in February this year, Mr. West has taken
an active and constructive role on the Company's Board.  In his new position as
Chairman, we believe he will expand this role with a greater emphasis on working
with our shareholders and institutional investors.'




Enquiries:


Gulfsands Petroleum (Houston)                                001-713-626-9564
David DeCort, Chief Financial Officer

College Hill (London)                                        020-7457-2020
Nick Elwes
Paddy Blewer

Teather & Greenwood (London)                                 020-7426-9000
James Maxwell (Corporate Finance)
Tanya Clarke (Specialist Sales)



Note to Editors



•         Gulf of Mexico, USA

The Company owns interests in 64 offshore blocks comprising approximately
216,000 gross acres which includes 39 producing oil and gas fields offshore
Texas and Louisiana with proved and probable recoverable reserves of 32.4 BCFGE,
consisting of 19.8 BCFG and 2.1 MMBO as of 1 January 2006 with a net present
value of $183 million.  Additionally, there is a further 2.8 BCFGE of possible
recoverable reserves with a net present value of $15.8 million.



•         Syria

In Syria, Gulfsands owns a 50% working interest in Block 26 and is the operator.
The block covers 11,000 square kilometres and surrounds areas which currently
produce over 100,000 barrels of oil per day from existing fields.  In January
2006 the Company completed the acquisition of 1,155 kilometers of 2D seismic and
anticipates drilling two wells during 2006.  The first well, known as Souedieh
North, commenced drilling in late April 2006 and was temporarily suspended in
June for further analysis.  The second well known as Tigris is scheduled to spud
in late August of 2006 and has the potential to contain in excess of 500 MMBOE.
Gulfsands has identified 31 total exploitation and exploration prospects within
Block 26 with mean resources potential exceeding 1 billion barrels of
recoverable oil.



Ryder Scott completed a reserves study on the Tigris structure in 2006 and these
reserves were classified as either oil or gas bearing until such time as the
Company drills and tests the Tigris structure.  As of 1 July 2006 Ryder Scott
determined that the Probable Reserves net to Gulfsands after applying the terms
of the Production Sharing Contract is 102 BCFG with a net present value
discounted at 10% of $233 million.  For primarily a natural gas accumulation, an
additional 75 BCFG of possible reserves net to Gulfsands were estimated to have
a 10% discounted net present value of $261 million.  Furthermore, the Company
completed its own economic evaluation on the Prospective Gas Resource and has
estimated that Prospective Gas Resource net to Gulfsands is 577 BCFG with a net
present value of approximately $1.06 billion.  In summary total gas reserves
potential net to Gulfsands among Probable and Possible Reserves for the natural
gas case is 177 BCFG (30 MMBOE) with a net present value of $494 million and
when combined with the Prospective Gas Resource it totals 754 BCFG (126 MMBOE)
with a net present value of approximately $1.55 billion.



For primarily an oil accumulation, Ryder Scott determined the Possible Reserves
net to Gulfsands after applying the terms of the Production Sharing Contract are
19.4 million barrels of oil having a net present value discounted at 10% of $452
million.  Furthermore, the Company completed its own economic evaluation on the
Prospective Oil Resource and has estimated that Prospective Oil Resource net to
Gulfsands is 50.9 MMBO with a net present value of approximately $1.51 billion.
In summary total oil reserves potential net to Gulfsands among Possible and
Prospective Oil Resource for the oil case is 70.3 MMBO with a net present value
of approximately $1.96 billion.



•         Iraq

Gulfsands signed a Memorandum of Understanding in January 2005 with the Ministry
of Oil in Iraq for the Misan Gas Project in Southern Iraq and is currently
negotiating the definitive contract for the project.  The project will gather,
process and transmit natural gas that is currently a waste by-product of oil
production in the region and will end the environmentally damaging practice of
gas flaring. Gulfsands has completed a feasibility study and expects to conduct
further technical work and commercial discussions with the Iraq Oil Ministry.



•         Onshore USA

Gulfsands operates onshore in the USA through its 83% owned subsidiary company
Darcy Energy LLC.  As of 1 January 2006, Darcy Energy owned interests in two oil
and gas fields onshore Texas, USA (Emily Hawes and Barb Mag) with proved and
probable recoverable reserves of 1.6 BCFGE, consisting of 1.2 BCFG and 58,000
barrels of oil with a net present value of $9.5 million.  Additionally, there is
a further 2.2 BCFGE of possible recoverable reserves with a net present value of
$7.9 million.






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