Spud of Inishbeg Well

Lansdowne Oil & Gas plc
22 August 2006

                                                                  22 August 2006



                            Lansdowne Oil & Gas plc
                         ('Lansdowne' or 'the Company')


                Drilling at Inishbeg, offshore Ireland commences


Lansdowne is pleased to announce that the Inishbeg exploration well spudded
earlier this morning. This frontier exploration well, operated by Lundin
Exploration B.V. a subsidiary of Lundin Petroleum, is located offshore Ireland
in Block 13/12 in water depth of 319ft, approximately 75 kms off the northwest
coast of County Donegal. It is designed to target a large but shallow, gas prone
structure at Triassic reservoir level. Well operations are expected to last for
approximately one month.


Under the terms of a farm-out agreement, Lansdowne is carried through all the
costs associated with the drilling and testing of the well by subsidiaries of
Island Oil and Gas plc and Petroceltic International plc


Steve Boldy, CEO of Lansdowne, commented:


'This is an important milestone for Lansdowne as it marks our first
participation in exploration drilling since our admission to AIM in April this
year. Our strategy is to work up exploration and appraisal opportunities in
shallow water areas and then farm-out to be carried through the drilling phase.
In addition to Inishbeg, evaluation work continues on our portfolio of prospects
in the Celtic Sea, off the south coast of Ireland, where we were encouraged by
the Old Head (49/23-1) gas discovery announced recently by Island Oil and Gas'.


Participants in Block 13/12 are Lundin Petroleum. (30.00%), Island Oil and Gas
(31.00%), Lansdowne Oil & Gas (19.25%), Petroceltic International (16.25%) and
Sunningdale Donegal Basin Limited  (3.50%).



ENQUIRIES:


Lansdowne Oil & Gas plc
Chris Moar                              Director             01224 352200

College Hill - London
Nick Elwes / Paddy Blewer                                    020 7457 2020



www.lansdowneoilandgas.com



This drilling update has been reviewed and approved by Steve Boldy, Chief
Executive of Lansdowne. Steve Boldy is a geology graduate with a Ph.D from
Trinity College Dublin and is a member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of
Great Britain. He has 26 years experience in the oil and gas exploration sector
and is a qualified person as defined in the guidance note for Mining, Oil & Gas
Companies, March 2006 of the London Stock Exchange.




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