Sarawak State Government announcement

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27 May 2020

UPLAND RESOURCES LIMITED

("Upland" or the "Company")

Sarawak State Government announcement

Upland Resources Limited (LSE: UPL), the oil and gas company, actively building a portfolio of attractive upstream assets in proven Asian and African basins, responds to the recent announcement by the Sarawak Government that it has reached an understanding with Petronas (Petroliam Nasional Berhad - Malaysia's National Oil Corporation) over the management of its oil and gas assets in Sarawak.

Upland, since 13 April 2018, has had a joint venture with Brooke Dockyard and Engineering Works Corporation ("Brooke") (100% owned by the Sarawak Government) to jointly assess, explore and develop hydrocarbon assets within the State of Sarawak, Malaysia.

In 2017, the Sarawak Government established a wholly owned company Petroleum Sarawak Berhad ("Petros") which was gazetted under state laws to regulate, facilitate, manage and develop the oil and gas assets within the territory of Sarawak (onshore and offshore). By virtue of the 1958 State Oil Mining Ordinance, all oil and gas permits in Sarawak are to be issued by the Sarawak Government.

The recent joint press statement made by the Sarawak Government and Petronas spelt out the best way forward for both parties - to adopt a commercial solution to ongoing issues between Petronas and the Sarawak Government in order to create a stable environment for investment and business in Malaysia and in Sarawak in particular.

This joint statement was welcomed by both the Prime Minister of Malaysia and the Chief Minister of Sarawak and is in line with the Federal Government of Malaysia's 'Shared Prosperity Vision'. Both Upland and other industry players welcome these latest developments as a noteworthy shift forward towards meaningful participation by Sarawak in the development of its significant oil and gas resources.

Upland, through its Chairman Bolhassan Di and the establishment of a private limited subsidiary (Upland Resources (Sarawak) Snd Bhd) and office in Sarawak, is well positioned within Sarawak and maintains a strong relationship with Petros, the Sarawak Government's wholly owned oil and gas company.

Upland and Brooke have carried out data room studies and evaluations to identify prospective hydrocarbon plays of scale in Sarawak and believing that they hold commercial resource potential have conveyed their selection to Petros as well as proposing details for a work programme. In line with Petros' policy to employ local expertise as much as possible and where practicable, Upland have collaborated with local Sarawakian consulting expertise to design the proposed work programme. 

Using local knowledge to secure large, high-impact petroleum plays within the region and developing these together with strategic partners is a key part of Upland's broader strategy to identify a number of potential opportunities both in Malaysia and further afield which offer unique potential for the Company.

Separately to this announcement, Upland continues to work on the results of an extensive Tunisian regional study in and around the Saoauf permit area and looks forward to updating investors with regards to this in the near-term.

Bolhassan Di, Chairman of Upland Resources Limited, said:

"We welcome this announcement by the Sarawak Government and Petronas which is absolutely in support of our strategy in Malaysia and we believe that it is an encouraging signal for industry players that they may soon be able to work in the area with Petros to maximise the substantial potential of  Sarawak.

This validates the work we have been undertaking with Brooke, our in-country partner. In addition, we note that it is a positive sign that Petros will now have more autonomy in the management of the oil and gas assets in Sarawak.  

Despite the inevitable disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we have continued our desktop studies within onshore Tunisia to further our geological understanding of both our permit area and to define new target plays in presently unlicenced areas and look forward to updating investors in the near term".

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 on market abuse

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