Statement re Operations Update

Immediate Release   26 July 2010




                            GULFSANDS PETROLEUM PLC

                               Operations Update


                     Block 26 Fields Production Performance

                      Khurbet East Field Drilling Results

                           Forward Drilling Programme

                              3D Seismic Programme

London,  26th July 2010:  Gulfsands  Petroleum plc  ("Gulfsands", the "Group" or
the  "Company")  (AIM:  GPX),  the  oil  and  gas  production,  exploration  and
development  company with activities in Syria, Tunisia, Iraq, and the U.S.A., is
pleased  to provide  the following  update on  the Company's operations at Block
26, Syria where Gulfsands holds a 50% interest and acts as operator.

Block 26 Fields Production Performance

Gross  oil production  from the  Khurbet East  and Yousefieh fields combined has
been  increased to approximately  20,000 barrels of oil  per day ("bopd") during
the  month of July. Gross cumulative oil  production from the two fields has now
passed 9.8 million barrels.

The  Khurbet East  field continues  to sustain  production of around 18,000 bopd
with minimal decline in reservoir pressure (less than 1%).

Production of oil has been underway at the Yousefieh field since start-up on 24
April  2010 from  two  vertical  wells,  Yousefieh-1 and 3. Early production and
pressure data from the field indicates that reservoir performance is better than
had  been expected.  During May  and June  a highly  successful acid stimulation
programme  was  conducted  which  succeeded  in  removing the wellbore formation
damage  identified as being present  in both wells, and  which had been limiting
production performance. As a result, field production has been increased from an
initial  1,200 bopd to  a stable  rate of  2,000 bopd, and  at a higher wellhead
flowing pressure. No formation water is being produced.

A third development well, Yousefieh-4H, will be drilled during the third quarter
of  2010. This well  is planned  as a  horizontal producer located approximately
500 metres  north of  the Yousefieh-1  production well.  It is  anticipated that
Yousefieh-4H  will increase the  field's production capability  by an additional
1,000 bopd.

Gross  production  rates  from  both  fields  are  now at a level where they are
constrained  by the logistics of the  export trucking arrangement located at the
Khurbet  East Early Production  Facility ("EPF"), which  has been in place since
the Khurbet East field came on-stream two years ago.

The  Company is nearing completion of an  8" export pipeline that is expected to
replace  the  trucking  export  operation  during  the  third quarter. Once this
pipeline  is  operational  and  subject  to  further  pending  analysis  of  the
throughput  capacity of the EPF, consideration will be given to increasing gross
production beyond 20,000 bopd.

Khurbet East Field Drilling Results

Horizontal  production well Khurbet East 15H ("KHE-15H") targeting the producing
Cretaceous  Massive formation in  the north central  crestal area of the Khurbet
East  field has been  successfully drilled, completed  and tied-back to the EPF.
The  well encountered the  Massive reservoir approximately  4 metres deeper than
prognosed,  and a  horizontal reservoir  section of  210 metres was  drilled and
completed  open hole.  KHE-15H is  currently producing  oil at around 2,500 bopd
with  no associated  production of  formation water.  Placing the KHE-15 well on
production at this rate has enabled off-take from other Khurbet East wells to be
reduced  as  part  of  the  Company's  reservoir management strategy directed at
optimizing the future recovery of oil.

Vertical   delineation   well   Khurbet   East   16 ("KHE-16"),   drilled  as  a
north-easterly step out from the central crestal area of the Khurbet East field,
was  designed  to  evaluate  the  potential  for  an  extension  of  the crestal
karstified  reservoir along  a ridge  that has  been interpreted  to lie  to the
north-east.  The KHE-16  well was  drilled 1.5 kilometres  to the  north-east of
discovery  well KHE-1 and encountered the Cretaceous Massive formation at 1,970
metres  Measured Depth (1,562 metres True  Vertical Depth below mean sea level),
some  39 metres deeper than  the pre-drill prognosis.  Approximately 9 metres of
high  quality  karst  reservoir  was  encountered  near the top of the reservoir
interval.

During  production testing operations the KHE-16 well initially flowed clean oil
to  surface under artificial lift  followed by a rapid  increase in water-cut to
approximately  98% of total  fluids produced.   The presence  of a  high quality
reservoir  in the area was confirmed  however, with total fluid production rates
in  excess of 3,500 barrels of  fluid per day achieved  on test.  Although these
results may indicate that the initial oil-in-place within the north-east portion
of  the field is less  than expected, reservoir quality  is better than expected
due  to the presence of the high quality karst reservoir and as evidenced by the
attractive  total  fluid  production  rates  achieved.  The  well  has  now been
suspended  and  initially  will  be  used  as  an observation well for reservoir
pressure  analyses.  Geological and reservoir studies will be conducted over the
next  several months to assess  any impact of the  KHE-16 results on the Khurbet
East field in-place and recoverable oil volumes.






The  Khurbet  East  17H ("KHE-17H")  horizontal  production  well  targeting the
producing  Cretaceous Massive formation in the south central crestal area of the
field   has  encountered  the  reservoir  8 metres  deeper  than  the  pre-drill
prognosis.  A horizontal  reservoir section  of 86 metres  has been  drilled and
completed  open hole, and the well currently  awaits tie-back to the EPF where a
production  test can be conducted. The KHE-17H  well will perform a similar role
to well KHE-15H, enabling improved reservoir management in order to optimize oil
recovery from the Khurbet East field.

Forward Drilling Programme

The rig is now being moved to the Yousefieh field area to drill the Yousefieh-4H
("Yous-4H") well as a horizontal development well.

Operations  at Yous-4H will be followed  by the exploration well Yousefieh South
1 (YSO-1)  located approximately 2 km south of the Yousefieh field and targeting
a  similar objective to the producing reservoir at Yousefieh.  The rig will then
move  back into  the Khurbet  East field  area to  drill an  additional vertical
delineation  well,  KHE-18.   Additional  exploration, appraisal and development
locations are also currently being assessed.

3D Seismic

A  new 3D seismic programme of 865 square kilometres will be acquired in an area
west  of the Greater Khurbet East seismic  survey, where a number of exploration
leads  have been identified on vintage 2D seismic data.  The survey is scheduled
to  commence in  mid-August, and  data acquisition  is expected  to be completed
during  the fourth quarter of  2010, with delivery of the  processed data in the
first  quarter of  2011.  Once this  survey is  completed, the Company will have
acquired  a  total  of  approximately  2,000 square kilometres of contiguous 3D
seismic data over the Khurbet East play fairway.

Commenting on this operations update, Ric Malcolm, CEO of Gulfsands, said

"It has been two years since Gulfsands commenced oil production at Khurbet East,
and  we have  now achieved  a gross  daily average  production rate in excess of
20,000 bopd  from  our  two  producing  fields,  with  cumulative  production of
approximately  10 million barrels of oil.  These are significant milestones, and
are  the result of the continued  dedication and spirit of cooperation exhibited
by our employees and industry partners.

We are pleased with these results, and look forward to continuing our brisk pace
of  exploration, development and  production with our  upcoming drilling and 3D
seismic acquisition programmes."

This  release has been approved by Richard Malcolm, Chief Executive of Gulfsands
Petroleum  Plc who has a Bachelor of  Science degree in Geology with 30 years of
experience in petroleum exploration and management. Mr. Malcolm has consented to
the  inclusion of  the technical  information in  this release  in the  form and
context in which it appears.

For more information please contact:

Gulfsands Petroleum (London)                                 [phone]

Richard Malcolm, Chief Executive Officer
Andrew Rose, Chief Financial Officer
Kenneth Judge, Director: Corporate Development &
Communications



Buchanan Communications Limited (London)                     [phone]

Bobby Morse
Ben Romney
Chris McMahon



RBC Capital Markets (London)                                 [phone]

Josh Critchley
Matthew Coakes
Martin Eales

ABOUT GULFSANDS:

Gulfsands is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

Syria

Gulfsands  owns a 50% working interest and is operator of Block 26 in North East
Syria.   The Khurbet  East oil  field was  discovered in June 2007 and commenced
commercial production within 13 months of the discovery. This field is producing
at  an average gross production rate  of approximately 18,000 barrels of oil per
day  through  an  early  production  facility.  A  second  field  discovery, the
Yousefieh field, was brought on-stream in April 2010, and is currently producing
2,000 barrels  of  oil  per  day.  Block  26 covers  approximately  8,250 square
kilometres and encompasses existing fields which currently produce over 100,000
barrels of oil per day, and are operated mainly by the Syrian Petroleum Company.
 The  current exploration license expires in August 2010 and is extendable for a
further  two  years.  Gulfsands'  working  interest  2P reserves in Syria at 31
December 2009 were 46.0 mmbbls.

Tunisia:

Gulfsands  is acquiring working interest positions in two exploration permits in
Tunisia  (Chorbane and Kerkouane Permits) and one exploration permit in Southern
Italy  (G.R15.PU) from  ADX Energy  Ltd the  operator of  all three permits. The
Company's  interest in  these permits  remains subject  to the completion of the
Company's farm obligations and various approvals from the governments of Tunisia
and Italy.

Kerkouane Permit - Offshore Tunisia
G.R15.PU  Permit (Pantelleria Permit) - Offshore Italy

G.R15.PU  is located offshore  the island of  Pantelleria southwest of Sicily in
Italian  waters and the Kerkouane Permit  is located offshore northeast Tunisia.
 The  two  permits  are  contiguous  and  comprise a total area of approximately
4,500 square km.

The  operator has  identified multiple  leads and  targets on  these permits and
drilling is currently underway on the most significant of these targets which is
the  Lambouka  Prospect,  a  large  horst  block  containing  multiple reservoir
targets.  The  operator  has  estimated  that  the  Lambouka  Prospect  has mean
estimated resources of 270 mmboe.

Gulfsands' work commitment for the Kerkouane Permit includes the drilling of the
Lambouka-1  exploration well which is currently  underway. Gulfsands will earn a
30% working interest in both permits by paying approximately 35% of the cost the
Lambouka-1  well and reimbursing the operator for a portion of various pre-drill
costs that include a recently completed 3D seismic programme.

Chorbane Permit - Onshore Tunisia

The  Chorbane permit is located in central  Tunisia and covers an area of 2,428
square  km.  The  permit  is  surrounded  by  several  producing  oil fields and
extensive oil and gas infrastructure. Gulfsands' forward work commitment for the
Chorbane  permit includes  the drilling  of one  exploration well  in the fourth
quarter  of 2010 for which  Gulfsands will pay  80% of the estimate US$5 million
cost of the first exploration well so as to earn a 40% interest in the permit.

A  number of prospects  and leads have  been indentified within  the permit, the
most  prospective  being  a  large  tilted  horst block ("Sidi Daher") where the
operator has identified multiple potential targets estimated to hold recoverable
un-risked prospective resources of 80 mmboe.

Iraq

Gulfsands signed a Memorandum of Understanding in January 2005 with the Ministry
of Oil in Iraq for the Maysan Gas Project in Southern Iraq, following completion
of  a  feasibility  study  on  the  project,  and  is  negotiating  details of a
definitive contract for this regionally important development.  The project will
gather, process and transmit natural gas that is currently a waste by-product of
oil  production  and  as  a  result  of  the  present  practice  of gas flaring,
contributes  to significant environmental  damage in the  region. The Company is
actively  engaged in discussions with respect  to financing and potential equity
partners.  Gulfsands has no reserves in Iraq.

Gulf of Mexico, USA

The  Company owns  interests in  37 leases offshore  Texas and  Louisiana, which
include  24 producing  oil  and  gas  fields  with  proved  and probable working
interest reserves at 31 December 2009 of 4.7 mmboe.

Certain  statements  included  herein  constitute  "forward-looking  statements"
within  the meaning of  applicable securities legislation. These forward-looking
statements  are based on  certain assumptions made  by Gulfsands and as such are
not  a guarantee of  future performance. Actual  results could differ materially
from  those  expressed  or  implied  in  such  forward-looking statements due to
factors  such  as  general  economic  and  market conditions, increased costs of
production or  a decline in oil and gas prices. Gulfsands is under no obligation
to  update or revise any forward-looking statements,  whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.

More information can be found on the Company's website www.gulfsands.com


[HUG#1433872]








This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of 
Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that: 
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and 
    other applicable laws; and 
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and 
     originality of the information contained therein. 
		
Source: Gulfsands Petroleum PLC via Thomson Reuters ONE