Transaction in own shares

On 8 December 2011, Gulfsands Petroleum plc (“Gulfsands” or the “Company” – AIM : GPX) purchased 17,000 of its own ordinary shares of 5.7142865 pence each at an average price of 185.53 pence per share, which will be held as treasury shares.

Following the repurchase, the Company has a total of 121,989,500 ordinary shares in issue, of which 4,237,681 are held as treasury shares.

For more information please contact:

Gulfsands Petroleum (London)
Richard Malcolm, Chief Executive Officer
Andrew Rose, Chief Financial Officer
Kenneth Judge, Director – Corporate Development & Communications
+44 (0)20 7434 6060

Buchanan (London)
Bobby Morse
Ben Romney
+44 (0)20 7466 5000

RBC Capital Markets (London)
Josh Critchley
Tim Chapman
Matthew Coakes
+44 (0)20 7653 4000

ABOUT GULFSANDS

Gulfsands is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

Syria
Gulfsands owns a 50% working interest and is operator of Block 26 in North East Syria. The Khurbet East oil field was discovered in June 2007 and commenced commercial production within 13 months of the discovery. This field is producing at an average gross production rate of approximately 24,000 barrels of oil per day through early production facilities. A second field discovery, the Yousefieh field, was brought on-stream in April 2010, and is currently producing approximately 2,600 barrels of oil per day. Block 26 covers approximately 5,414 km² and encompasses existing fields which currently produce over 100,000 barrels of oil per day, and are operated mainly by the Syrian Petroleum Company. The current exploration license expires in August 2012. Gulfsands’ working interest 2P reserves in Syria at 31 December 2010 were 53.6 mmbbls.

Tunisia
Gulfsands has acquired or is acquiring working interest positions in two exploration permits in Tunisia (Chorbane and Kerkouane Permits) and one exploration permit in Southern Italy (G.R15.PU) from ADX Energy Ltd the operator of all three permits. The Company’s interest in the Chorbane permit remains subject to the completion of the Company’s farm-in obligations and the Company’s interest in each of these permits remains subject to final approvals from the governments of Tunisia and Italy.

Kerkouane Permit – Offshore Tunisia
G.R15.PU Permit (Pantelleria Permit) – Offshore Italy

G.R15.PU, is located offshore the island of Pantelleria southwest of Sicily in Italian waters and the Kerkouane Permit is located offshore northeast Tunisia. The two permits are contiguous and comprise a total area of approximately 4,500 km².

The operator has identified multiple leads and targets on these permits. Drilling operations were recently completed at the Lambouka-1 well in late 2010 where gas was encountered in the Abiod Formation. However, as a result of down-hole problems, no fluid samples or gas flow were established. The well was suspended with the intention of re-entering at a later date and drilling and testing the reservoir in a sidetrack hole, up-dip of the existing discovery.

Gulfsands has completed its earn-in commitments with respect to the Kerkouane and Pantelleria Permits with the drilling of the Lambouka-1 well. Gulfsands has earned a 30% working interest in both permits by paying approximately 35% of the cost the Lambouka-1 well and reimbursing the operator for a portion of various pre-drill costs that include a recently completed 3D seismic programme.

Chorbane Permit – Onshore Tunisia
The Chorbane permit is located in central Tunisia and covers an area of 2,428 km². The permit is surrounded by several producing oil fields and extensive oil & gas infrastructure. Gulfsands’ forward work commitment for the Chorbane permit includes the drilling of one exploration well for which Gulfsands will pay 80% of the first $5 million in drilling costs, and 40% of the drilling costs in excess of $5 million, so as to earn a 40% interest in the permit.

A number of prospects and leads have been identified within the permit, the most prospective being a large tilted horst block (“Sidi Daher”) where the operator has identified multiple potential targets estimated to hold recoverable mean un-risked prospective resources of 175 billion cubic feet of gas (“bcfg”) and 44 million barrels of oil from Tertiary and Cretaceous aged reservoirs. The Sidi Daher exploration well is anticipated to be drilled during the third quarter of 2011.

Iraq
Gulfsands signed a Memorandum of Understanding in January 2005 with the Ministry of Oil in Iraq for the Maysan Gas Project in Southern Iraq, following completion of a feasibility study on the project, and is negotiating details of a definitive contract for this regionally important development. The project will gather, process and transmit natural gas that is currently a waste by-product of oil production and as a result of the present practice of gas flaring, contributes to significant environmental damage in the region. Gulfsands has no reserves in Iraq.

Gulf of Mexico, USA
The Company owns interests in 30 leases offshore Texas and Louisiana, which include 20 producing oil and gas fields with proved and probable working interest reserves at 31 December 2010 of 3.2 mmboe (figures adjusted for the disposal of non-core properties in December 2010).

Certain statements included herein constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. These forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions made by Gulfsands and as such are not a guarantee of future performance. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements due to factors such as general economic and market conditions, increased costs of production or a decline in oil and gas prices. Gulfsands is under no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.