LNG Energy Ltd., Vancouver, (TSX: LNG) has spudded the first well in Bulgaria under the farm-in agreement with TransAtlantic Worldwide Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd. (TSX: TNP)(AMEX: TAT).

The exploration well is located on the A-Lovech exploration license targeting the Middle Jurassic Etropole formation. Total depth is expected to be 3,200 meters with whole well core being taken over a substantial interval.

The well will be completed in Q1, 2012. TransAtlantic's subsidiary, Direct Petroleum Bulgaria EOOD, will apply to the government of Bulgaria for a production concession. The Etropole Concession is expected to cover an area up to 1,640 square kilometers (405,080 acres) for a term of up to 35 years.

Poland Update

In Poland, completion operations have commenced on the vertical Lebork S-1 well, including rigging up equipment, cleaning out the wellbore and performing formation evaluation tests prior to fracture stimulations. This initial fracture stimulation work on the Lebork S-1 well is scheduled to commence on September 30th and targets the very prospective Cambrian shale formation. The company expects to have results available in the 4th quarter.

"With the imminent fracing of the very prospective Cambrian horizon in our Polish Lebork well scheduled for September 30th and the spudding of our initial Etropole farm-in well in Bulgaria, LNG will be testing two extensive shale basins simultaneously," says Dave Afseth, president & CEO of LNG. "We are optimistic that the results from both Poland and Bulgaria will be positive and look forward to rapidly confirming the multi Tcf potential of these projects and moving them forward."