PANOCEAN CONFIRMS REPORT OF EBOURI DISCOVERY OFFSHORE GABON

EXCERPT FROM NEWS REPORT ISSUED BY PANOCEAN, January 21, 2004 :

ST. HELIER, JERSEY, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -

" Pan-Ocean Energy Corporation Limited … today confirmed a new pool discovery on the wildcat well Ebouri No.1 ("EBO-1"), 11 kilometres northwest of the Company's producing Etame field offshore Gabon, West Africa. PanOcean has a 31.36% interest in the new field.

A second sidetrack, EBO-1 ST2, was completed and logged, successfully delineating the new pool. The EBO-1 well was sidetracked twice for geological reasons. Both sidetracks were drilled to the Gamba and Dentale sandstone reservoir formations and were logged. Wireline logs indicate that a 15.5 metre oil column was encountered within the Gamba reservoir. A wireline oil sample was taken from the pay interval and confirms the presence of approximately 36 degree API oil, similar to that from the adjacent Etame field. The logs from the sidetracks confirm a continuous oil-water contact between the original well and its two sidetracks.

PanOcean confirms that the results of the second sidetrack were consistent with the previous well results and that initial analysis suggests that the accumulation has the potential to be economically developed via a tie-back to the nearby Etame FPSO. The well is currently being plugged and abandoned, awaiting development. "