Exploration and Development

Gold Oil PLC
18 October 2004






FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          18 October 2004


GOLD OIL ACQUIRES NEW EXPLORATION BLOCKS IN PERU AND SIGNS AN AGREEMENT FOR THE
                      DEVELOPMENT OF A PETROCHEMICAL PLANT

Gold Oil plc ('Gold Oil' or the 'Company'), the London based exploration and
production company, announces that it has signed an evaluation agreement with
PeruPetro (the State Oil company of Peru) for a large unexplored onshore area in
Northern Peru. Gold Oil has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with
MAN Ferrostaal of Essen, Germany for the evaluation and feasibility study for a
petrochemical plant to be constructed in Northern Peru.

Onshore exploration Blocks with PeruPetro

Gold Oil has agreed to evaluate a large tranche (aprox. 303,000 ha) of onshore
acreage in the Sechura Basin in Northern Peru. Several large oil and gas
accumulations have been discovered to the north and west of the Gold Oil Blocks
with some of the gas fields already in commercial production. To the north of
the Sechura Basin, over 1.6 billion barrels of oil have been produced from the
Talara Basin over the last 100 years. Under the terms of the evaluation
agreement with PeruPetro, Gold Oil has exclusive rights to the area for a period
of two years but Gold Oil intends to switch to an exploration licence almost
immediately and drill up prospects as soon as they are identified.

The search for natural gas by the drill bit is part of a greater strategy to
procure natural gas in the area by farming into existing acreage and/or
purchasing gas reserves.

MOU with MAN Ferrostaal

Gold Oil has signed a MOU with MAN Ferrostaal of Essen, Germany to evaluate the
feasibility of developing a petrochemical plant in Northern Peru. Under the
terms of the MOU, MAN Ferrostaal will be responsible for evaluating the
petrochemical plant and Gold Oil responsible for evaluating the gas supplies and
pipeline transportation options.
The MOU envisages several phases of development with Gold Oil having an option
to participate in the petrochemical plant and MAN Ferrostaal an option to
participate in the upstream gas supply.

Changes of Personnel

Billy G. Underwood Jr, the managing director of Gold Oil Peru has tendered his
resignation to the Board of Directors for personal reasons. Mr. Michael Burchell
(non-executive Chairman) will now become part of the executive management team.
Mr Thomas Tidow has agreed to join the Company as Country Manager, Peru. Mr
Tidow (45), a mechanical engineer and MBA (Stuttgart & Barcelona) is a senior
executive with international experience mainly in the Oil & Gas (Shell, Vopak
and Repsol) and automotive industries (Mercedes-Benz and Behr) which includes
project management, new business development and commercial management roles in
leading multinational organizations. He is a Peruvian national and has
experience in Germany, Brazil, Peru, Spain and the US. He is fluent in Spanish,
English, and German.



Commenting on today's announcement, Gary Moore, Operations Director of Gold Oil,
stated:

'These are exciting transactions for the Company. If we are successful in
establishing reserves, this enable us to bring oil fields on stream quickly and
also build up a natural gas portfolio for a predetermined market in a prolific
low cost natural gas area. Our partners, Man Ferrostaal have a huge amount of
experience in developing plants throughout the world and in particular in
developing countries. They have been operating in Peru for over 40 years'.

Enquiries:

Gary Moore         Operations Director        Tel: [phone] 
                                              Email:[e-mail]
Mike Burchell      Chairman                   Tel. [phone] 
                                              Email: [e-mail]
Roland Cornish     Beaumont Cornish Limited   Tel: [phone].



Note to Editor

The evaluation agreement entails re-examining all the previous wells
encountering hydrocarbons in the area and its surroundings and also seismic
lines shot in the surrounding area and reprocessing data if appropriate.
Drilling costs are low in this part of Peru in the £250,000 region compared with
European costs of £1,000,000 plus. The blocks lie in desert areas and to the
east of an existing producing gas field.

The Talara Basin to the north of the Sechura Basin has produced over 1.6 billion
barrels of oil over a period of 100 years. Gas discovered there has been largely
ignored as there has never been a significant market for the gas to justify
commercial development with the exception of gas lift/injection and small-scale
power generation. The Sechura Basin has always been seen in the past as 'gas
potential only' and contains one gas field that has been in commercial
production for the past two years.

The Blocks

The area is equivalent to just less than 14 North Sea blocks. The target
reservoirs are mostly at shallow depths of 4,000 - 6,000 feet.

Petrochemical Plant Development Plan

Several deep-water ports have been identified to the north of the area capable
of handling exports of petrochemicals with low cost green field sites nearby. It
is expected the petrochemical plant will be developed in phases as more and more
gas reserves are procured and/or discovered.

MAN Ferrostaal is a leading petrochemical plant general contractor and owner
with plants in Trinidad, Oman and Chile.

The MOU envisages a plant costing in excess of £200 million and requiring less
than 500 billion cubic feet of natural gas over a minimum 20-year period. The
gas price will be linked to commodity price of the exported product with a floor
price. It is expected that Gold Oil will bring in a large upstream partner in
the near future to assist with the programme.



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