2011-06-17-2011-05-31

To farm into 20% WI in Block 101-100/04 offshore northern Vietnam.

JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp., a subsidiary of Nippon Oil Corp., Tokyo, (Tokyo: 5001) plans to farm into a 20% interest in Block 101-100/04 offshore northern Vietnam from Salamander Energy Plc, London (London: SMDR).

Block 101-100/04 is operated by Salamander and contains the Cat Ba oil prospect that will be tested with the CB-1X well in during the third quarter.

JX Nippon can earn a 20% working interest through funding a promoted cost of the CB-1X well.

The Cat Ba oil prospect has oil potential in both basement and in the overlying clastics, and has a mean prospective resource of approximately 100 million barrels of oil, according to Salamander. The CB-1X exploration well will drilled in July.

Salamander chief executive James Menzies says, "Bringing in a partner like JX-NOEX demonstrates the industry interest in this emerging oil play and highlights the attractions of the Cat Ba prospect. This transaction reduces Salamander's financial exposure to the drilling of the CB-1X well, while we remain highly leveraged to the upside in the event of success at Cat Ba."