VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - July 23, 2012) - Africa Oil Corp. ("Africa Oil" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:AOI)(OMX:AOI) provides the following update on the Shabeel North well in Puntland, Somalia which is being drilled by operator Horn Petroleum Corp. ("Horn"). Africa Oil holds an approximate 45% equity interest in Horn.

An open hole Drill Stem Test (DST) was conducted over a 50 metre gross interval which contained several sands in the upper portion of the primary Jesomma Formation which had oil shows. The test recovered fresh water (1200 ppm Cl-) without any traces of oil. The current plan is to drill ahead to the originally planned depth of approximately 2400 metres which will penetrate the remaining section of Jesomma sands at which point the entire section will be evaluated by electrical logging to determine if further testing is warranted.