Forum Energy Plc (‘Forum’ or ‘the Company’), the AIM quoted oil, gas and coal company with assets in the Philippines, is pleased to announce that all the conditions relating to its acquisition of Basic Petroleum and Minerals Inc (‘BPMI’), the wholly-owned subsidiary of Basic Consolidated, Inc. (‘BCI’), have been met.

On 30 March 2006 the Department of Energy of the Government of the Philippines approved the assignment of the participating interests of BCI to its subsidiary BPMI, this being the final condition relating to Forum’s acquisition of BPMI. As announced on 29 March 2006, the shareholders of BCI have previously approved the acquisition by Forum of BPMI.

The acquisition of the entire issued share capital of BPMI, in exchange for a mixture of cash and ordinary shares in Forum, can now be completed.

This acquisition will provide Forum with initial net production of approximately 40 barrels of oil per day, and varying interests in nine oil fields offering additional production and reserve potential.

The terms of the agreement are set out in the announcement made by Forum on 15 February 2006 and can be summarised as follows:

• Forum will pay US$5 million to BCI over the next 12 months, made up of US$2.2 million in cash payments and the issue of 1,333,759 new ordinary shares of 10p in Forum (equating to US$2.8 million);
• Further cash payments to BCI of up to US$2 million will be made if the acquired interests produce more than 5.4 million barrels of oil; and
• BCI, the current owner of BPMI, may also ultimately receive up to US$10 million of cost recovery amounts that are associated with the interests, but not until after Forum has recovered 100% of its invested capital.

As part of the consideration for the acquisition, the Company is required to issue a total of 1,333,759 new ordinary shares of 10p in the Company to BCI. These shares are subject to lock-in arrangements as follows:

• 1,047,953 new ordinary shares of Forum issued to BCI will be subject to a 12 month holding period from 3 April 2006;
• 285,806 new ordinary shares of Forum issued to BCI will be subject to an 18 month holding period from 3 April 2006, subject to the conditions of certain service contracts.

The new ordinary shares were allotted on 3 April 2006 and application has been made for the admission of the new ordinary shares to trading on AIM. Dealings are expected to commence in the new ordinary shares on 10 April 2006.

Following the admission of the new ordinary shares to AIM on 10 April 2006, BCI will be interested in a total of 1,333,759 ordinary shares of 10p each in the Company, representing 4.67% of the issued share capital of the Company.

For further information please contact:
David Robinson, Chief Executive, Forum Energy plc: +44 (0) 1932 445 346
Adam Westcott, Noble & Company Ltd: +44 (0) 131 225 9677
Ian Foster, First City Financial Public Relations: +44 (0) 20 7436 7486 or +44 (0) 7739 185 050