First day of dealing

BowLeven Plc
07 December 2004


BowLeven Plc
07 December 2004



                           BowLeven Plc floats on AIM

BowLeven Plc ('BowLeven' or 'the Company'), the African oil and gas group, today
floats on AIM.

BowLeven has raised approximately £17 million (before expenses) through an 
institutional placing at 363p a share, which values the Company at approximately
£77 million. In November BowLeven raised £15 million in a pre-IPO fundraising.

Based in Edinburgh, BowLeven owns a number of valuable assets in Cameroon, one
of the most attractive oil and gas exploration regions in West Africa. It
controls three shallow offshore blocks in the Etinde Permit area with proved and
probable (P50) recoverable reserves (independently assessed) of 60.3 million
barrels of oil equivalent ('mmboe') plus P50 contingent resources of 58.2 mmboe
i.e. a total of 118.5 mmboe of recoverable hydrocarbon volumes. As well as P50
hydrocarbon reserves and contingent resources the 2,300 sq km acreage, which has
had 9 wells drilled in it, has very attractive exploration potential. The
Company has operated in Cameroon since 1999.

BowLeven's Nominated Adviser and Broker is Noble & Company Limited.

Terry Heneaghan, Chairman of BowLeven, said:

'We are delighted to be taking this important step in the development of the 
Company. We have some valuable oil and gas assets and we are looking forward to
being able to exploit these for the benefit of Cameroon and our shareholders.'


Placing Statistics:

Placing Price                                                         363 pence
Number of new ordinary shares being issued under the Placing          4,740,000
Percentage of enlarged issued share capital subject to the Placing       22.46%
Number of ordinary shares in issue on Admission                      21,106,925
Gross proceeds of the Placing                                       £17,206,200
Net proceeds of the Placing to be received by the Company           £15,946,646


Copies of the prospectus will be available free of charge at the offices of
Noble & Company Limited, 120 Old Broad Street, London, EC2N 1AR during normal
business hours on any weekday (except public holidays) for a period of one month
from the date of Admission.

For further information contact:

BowLeven Plc                         0131 225 9677
Terry Heneaghan

Noble & Co. Ltd                      
Joe Philipsz                         0131 225 9677
James Bromhead                       020 7763 2200

Maitland                             020 7379 5151
Neil Bennett
Liz Morley




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