Drilling Report

Empyrean Energy PLC
13 January 2006


13 January 2006

                              Empyrean Energy PLC
                  ('Empyrean' or the 'Company'; Ticker: (EME))

            Drilling commences at the Eagle North-1 appraisal well,

     Eagle Oil Pool Development Project, San Joaquin Basin, California, USA

AIM quoted Empyrean Energy PLC today announces commencement of drilling at the
Eagle North-1 well.

The Eagle North-1 well which is to be drilled adjacent to a previous discovery
well for oil and associated gas is expected to take approximately 14 days to
reach maximum depth in the vertical stage. Empyrean has the right to earn a
38.5% working interest in the Eagle Oil Pool Development Project..

The San Joaquin Basin in southern California is a proven oil and gas field that
has produced in excess of 12 billion barrels of oil and 11 trillion cubic feet
of gas. An independent expert has estimated that the Eagle Oil Pool Development
Project could contain a P50 (probability 50% unrisked) reserve of 7.1 million
barrels of recoverable oil and 12.3 billion cubic feet of associated gas, with
the P10 assessment estimated at 22.7 million barrels of oil and 22.7 billion
cubic feet of associated gas. The Project is a structural-stratigraphic trap
play targeting the Eocene aged Gatchell Sand formation.

Victoria Petroleum USA Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of ASX listed Victoria
Petroleum NL (ASX CODE VPE) is the operator for the Eagle North-1 well. The
initial phase will take approximately 14 days to complete and following initial
success the casing and production testing of the well will commence. If the
vertical stage above proves successful the particpant's intend to complete a
horizontal production well in an attempt to enhance recovery rates

The Eagle North-1 appraisal well will be drilled approximately 300 metres
northwest of the Eagle-1 surface location and vertically drilled to its target
depth of 4,200 metres. Upon confirmation of the presence of oil in the target
Gatchell Sandstone the well will be cased and production tested for five days. A
300 metre horizontal lateral well will then be drilled and completed for
production in the target Gatchell Sandstone oil reservoir. In the event of a
successful horizontal well completion, the Operator anticipates flow rates of up
to 1000 barrels of oil per day .

Commenting on the agreement today Empyrean executive director Chris Lambert
said: 'Energy demand and prices in California have continued to remain strong
and Empyrean is very well placed to capitalise on these fundamentals should the
Eagle-North-1 well meet our expectations'.

For further information including full farm-in details for the Eagle Oil Pool
Development Project

Laurence Read/Amanda Harris  David Newton              Chris Lambert
Conduit PR                   HB-Corporate              Empyrean Energy plc
Tel: [phone]    Tel: [phone]  Tel : [phone]
Mob: [phone]




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