RNS Number:5196T
Petroceltic International PLC
22 December 2003



                         PETROCELTIC INTERNATIONAL PLC

                           TUNISIAN LICENCE AGREEMENT

               Petroceltic wins Large North Africa onshore Block

Petroceltic International plc ("Petroceltic"), an AIM quoted upstream oil and
gas company, announces that it has signed agreements with the Tunisian
Government and State Oil Company (ETAP) to explore, produce and develop, oil and
gas resources within a 7,000 km2 onshore area known as the Ksar Hadada block in
southern Tunisia.

Petroceltic has secured a 100% (95% net) interest and operatorship of the block.
The agreements provide for a 10-year exploration period and a renewable 30 year
production licence for any commercial hydrocarbon discoveries. Petroceltic is to
initially focus on one of the largest of these prospects in the southern part of
the block where a potential 400 million barrel structure has been identified
following detailed evaluation of existing well and seismic subsurface data.
Petroceltic plans to drill this feature in 2004.

The Ksar Hadada block is located inland from the coast adjacent to the Libyan
border and is near to existing oil fields in Tunisia and Libya. Several
significant oil and gas prospects have already been recognised over this
extensive area. A well drilled in this area in 1958 found oil in a fractured
Ordovician sandstone but seismic acquired after the well was drilled
demonstrates that the well was located on the edge of this structure.

Furthermore, elsewhere in southern Tunisia, two significant Ordovician oil and
gas discoveries have been made this year in a similar geological setting to that
found in Petroceltic's Ksar Hadada block. These wells confirm the significant
but relatively unexplored hydrocarbon potential of the Ordovician play in
southern Tunisia. These same reservoirs also host some of the largest oil and
gas fields in neighbouring Algeria and Libya.

Brian Cusack, Executive Chairman of Petroceltic, commented:

"This a major step forward for Petroceltic and represents our first move into
the prolific hydrocarbon basins of North Africa. The drilling objectives in the
large prospect described above are at shallow depths of less than 4,000 feet,
giving Petroceltic access to significant potential hydrocarbon reserves for only
a modest financial exposure.

"We are looking forward to successfully working with ETAP in the exploration and
exploitation of the hydrocarbon potential of this block."

Contacts:
Petroceltic International plc                      Tel: +353 1 662 7993
Brian Cusack, Chairman                             Tel: +353 87 257 5476

                                                   brian.cusack@petroceltic.ie
John Craven, Managing Director                     Tel: +353 86 386 2076

                                                   john.craven@petroceltic.ie
www.petroceltic.com
Binns & Co PR Ltd                                  Tel : +44 (0) 20 7786 9600
Paul McManus                                       Mob: +44 (0) 7980 541 893
                                                   paul.mcmanus@binnspr.co.uk
Simpson PR
Ronnie Simpson                                     Tel: +353 1 260 5300
Davy Stockbrokers
Des Carville                                       Tel: +353 1 679 63 63



Additional Information:

Petroceltic has entered into a Production Sharing Contract with Enterprise
Tunisienne d'Activities Petrolieres ("ETAP", the Tunisian state oil company). In
turn both parties have signed a Convention with the Tunisian State, represented
by Monsieur Fethi Merdassi, Minister of Industry and Energy. These confidential
agreements allow for the sharing of production revenues for cost recovery and
the sharing of profits with ETAP. All royalties and tax will be paid by ETAP.

Petroceltic has acquired the exploration database and rights to the application
for this licence under an agreement announced previously with GAIA of Italy and
Derwent Resources of U.K. Under this agreement GAIA and Derwent each have a
right of back in to a maximum of 2.5% of any commercial discovery after payback
leaving Petroceltic with a net 95% interest. These companies' principals are
very experienced in projects involving North African geology similar to that of
this area and were instrumental in the discovery and evaluation of commercial
discoveries including the Elephant Field in Libya (+500mbbls).

The 7000km2 and 90%+ onshore Ksar Hadada block contains several major
structures. The largest - known as Sidi Toui - may alone contain reserves in
excess of 400 million barrels of recoverable oil plus significant volumes of
associated gas. Oil has already been found in this structure. The discovery well
(ST-1) was drilled in 1958 and was quickly followed up by a second well (ST-2)
to assess the field. Both wells were located solely on the basis of very sparse
gravity data and surface mapping and without any seismic data. ST-1 only
encountered the flank of the structure and ST-2 missed the structure completely.
Seismic was subsequently conducted over the area but no further exploration work
was done.

GAIA and Derwent have, after detailed analysis of the seismic and well results
using modern techniques, identified the Sidi Toui structure as one with
substantial potential and low risk. The structure is large and contains oil.
Petroceltic plans to drill an optimally located appraisal well on the
high-relief Sidi Toui structure in 2004 to establish the volumes contained in
the reservoir and the recoverability of the oil. Since the structure is shallow,
this should be low cost (less than $1.5 million). The company is encouraged by
recent substantial commercial discoveries in Tunisia this year in similar
geological settings. The structure is also analogous to giant oil and gas fields
in Algeria and Libya.


22 December 2003



                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
EN
AGRILFERFALALIV