Panoro Energy hires new head of exploration

Panoro Energy ASA ("PEN", OSE ticker code), the independent oil and gas company with assets in West Africa and Brazil, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Dimas Ferreira da Silva Coelho to the position as Executive Vice President Exploration effective from September 1, 2011. Mr. Coelho will have overall responsibility for directing the Company's exploration activities going forward. He will be based in the Company’s offices in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Mr. Coelho has spent 30 years with Petrobras and been a key person for exploration in Campos and Santos basins over the last 10 to 15 years. He has managed numerous teams exploring Brazil’s most prolific areas, and in his recent role as Joint Venture (JV) Project Manager he has also been responsible for coordinating multidisciplinary teams to achieve JV objectives and goals either in blocks operated by Petrobras or non-operated ones. In this last activity he was responsible for 15 exploration blocks in the Santos basin, where Panoro Energy has assets.

In addition to his technical skills, he has a strong commercial background with education including a PhD in Geology from Cornell University in the US, an MBA from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and programs at INSEAD in France.

“In keeping with Panoro’s objective to develop a strong, sustainable and competitive company, we are very pleased to add to the senior management team someone with Dimas’ breadth and depth of experience in exploration”, comments Kjetil Solbraekke, CEO of Panoro Energy. “Dimas’ experience will be invaluable in defining and leading our exploration team. We are looking forward to his expected successes in the future."

For more information, please contact:
Jonas Gamre, Finance & Investor Relations Manager
Tel: +47 23 01 10 02
Cell: +47 971 18 292
Email: jonas.gamre@panoroenergy.com