6 March 2015

Rockhopper Exploration plc

 ("Rockhopper" or the "Company")

14/15-5 Well Spud and Drilling Order Update

Rockhopper Exploration plc (AIM: RKH), the oil and gas exploration and production company with interests in the North Falkland Basin and the Greater Mediterranean region, announces that the 14/15-5 well (the "Well") was spudded, by Premier Oil as operator, on 6 March 2015.

The well is located on licence PL004b in which Rockhopper has a 24% working interest and is an exploration well on the Zebedee prospect.  The Zebedee well will test a total of seven stacked fan bodies with varying geological chances of success (GCoS) of 9 - 52%.  Net prospective Pmean resources are estimated at 68 million barrels (mmbbls) in a range of 13 - 178 mmbbls.

Drilling, coring and logging operations are expected to take approximately 30 days. A further release will be made when those operations are completed.

Current planned drilling order:

The North Falkland Basin wells are anticipated to cost approximately US$50 million each.  As a result of the various carry arrangements, the total net cash exposure to Rockhopper of the four wells is estimated at approximately US$25 million.  No drill stem testing is planned during the campaign.

Samuel Moody, CEO, commented:

"We are very pleased to be drilling again in the North Falkland Basin and to be targeting prospects we first mapped in 2012.  This exciting exploration campaign exposes shareholders to a range of prospects and risks which in the case of success will add significantly to the value of the already discovered and appraised Sea Lion field." 

For further information, please contact:

Rockhopper Exploration plc

Tel: (via Vigo Communications) - 020 7016 9571

Sam Moody - Chief Executive

Fiona MacAulay - Chief Operating Officer

Stewart MacDonald - Chief Financial Officer

Canaccord Genuity Limited (NOMAD and Joint Broker)

Tel: 020 7523 8000

Henry Fitzgerald-O'Connor

Liberum Capital (Joint Broker)

Tel: 020 3100 2227

Clayton Bush

Vigo Communications

Tel: 020 7016 9571

Peter Reilly

Patrick d'Ancona

Note regarding Rockhopper oil and gas disclosure

This announcement has been approved by Rockhopper's geological staff who include Fiona MacAulay (Chief Operating Officer), who is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London and a Member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain and American Association of Petroleum Geologists with over 25 years of experience in petroleum exploration and management, and who is the qualified person as defined in the Guidance Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies issued by the London Stock Exchange in respect of AIM companies. In compiling its resource estimates, Rockhopper has used the definitions and guidelines as set forth in the 2007 Petroleum Resources Management System approved by the Society of Petroleum Engineers.