Commencement of Dealings

Gulfsands Petroleum PLC
08 April 2005



Gulfsands Petroleum PLC

('Gulfsands' or 'the Company')



Dealings Commence & Admission to AIM





Gulfsands Petroleum PLC is the holding company of an oil and gas exploration,
development and production group based in Houston, Texas. Its activities are
currently focused in the USA, Syria and Iraq.



Dealings have commenced this morning on AIM and the company had a market
capitalisation of approximately £120 million at the placing price.



Gulfsands has placed 24,300,000 new ordinary shares at an issue price of 130p
per share to raise £29.8 million (net of expenses).



Seymour Pierce Limited acted as nominated adviser and broker to the Company.



John Dorrier, Chief Executive of Gulfsands, said:



'We have had a very good response from the market.  The proceeds will enable us
to finance our planned exploration and development programme in Syria and the US
and will also finance the next phase of the Misan project in Iraq.  In addition,
it gives us the scope to acquire additional opportunities in Iraq and the rest
of the Middle East as they arise.



The Misan project is progressing.  A definitive contract has been tabled with
the Iraq Ministry of Oil and a meeting in Houston is planned in the coming
weeks.'



                                                                    8 April 2005



Enquiries:


College Hill                                               020 7457 2020
    Ben Brewerton / Jim Joseph



Seymour Pierce                                             020 7107 8000
    Richard Redmayne

    Jonathan Wright









Note to Editors





•         Gulf of Mexico, USA

The Company has a 52.6% interest in Northstar Gulfsands, which owns interests in
39 producing oil and gas fields offshore Texas and Louisiana and operates 8 of
those fields. Northstar Gulfsands has proved and probable reserves of 4.7 mmbbls
of oil and some 29.2 bcf of gas.



•         Syria

In Syria, Gulfsands has a 20% interest in Block 26 through a venture with Devon
Energy. The block covers 11,000 sq kms and surrounds areas which currently
produce over 100,000 bopd from existing fields.  The Company is planning the
acquisition of an extensive 2D seismic programme and the drilling of the first
well during 2005. Gulfsands has identified 27 exploitation and exploration
prospects and leads with mean resources potential of 1 billion barrels of
recoverable oil.



•         Iraq

Gulfsands has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of
Oil in Iraq for the Misan Gas Project in Southern Iraq.  The project will
gather, process and transmit natural gas that is currently a waste by-product of
oil production in the region and will end the environmentally damaging practice
of gas flaring. Gulfsands has completed a feasibility study and expects to
conduct further technical work and commercial discussions with the Iraq Oil
Ministry in the first half of 2005.



•         Onshore USA

At the Emily Hawes field, which has previously produced approximately 1.7 bcf of
natural gas before being shut-in, gas production is expected to start during the
first half of 2005.  The first well in the Barb Mag oil field is expected to be
drilled in the second quarter of 2005.  Darcy Energy has a 25% and 37.5% working
interest in these fields respectively.








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