Heritage Oil Plc (TSX:HOC)(LSE:HOIL), an independent upstream exploration and production company, today announces the declaration of a special dividend of £1.00 per ordinary share of the Company ("Ordinary Share"). Heritage Oil Corporation ("HOC"), the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, today also announces the declaration of a special dividend of Cdn$1.62 per exchangeable share of HOC ("Exchangeable Share"), calculated at an exchange rate of £1.00:Cdn$1.62.

This announcement follows that made on 27 July 2010 in respect of the completion of the sale of the Company's entire interests in Block 1 and Block 3A in Uganda to Tullow Uganda Limited (the "Sale") and the Company's intention to distribute a significant proportion of the consideration received for the Sale to its shareholders.

Ordinary Shares

The special dividend of £1.00 per Ordinary Share will be paid by the Company on 27 August 2010 to holders of Ordinary Shares on the share register at the close of business London time on 13 August 2010, the record date. The Ordinary Shares will be quoted ex-dividend on the London Stock Exchange on 11 August 2010.

Exchangeable Shares

The special dividend of Cdn$1.62 per Exchangeable Share will be paid by HOC on 27 August 2010 to holders of Exchangeable Shares on the share register at the close of business Toronto time on 13 August 2010, the record date. The Exchangeable Shares will be quoted ex-dividend on the London Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange on 11 August 2010.

Bonds

As disclosed in the Company's announcement of 31 December 2009, certain amendments to the terms of the US$165,000,000 8.00 per cent. convertible bonds due 2012 (the "Bonds") were approved by Bondholders. Pursuant to such amendments, no adjustments will be made to the conversion rights under the terms of the Bond (the "Conversion Rights") in respect of any dividend paid or made by the Company; instead, the Company agreed to pay the holder of each Bond outstanding on the record date for such dividend a pass-through dividend (the "Pass-through Dividend") which is equal to the dividend which would be received by the holder of a number of Ordinary Shares equal to the number of Ordinary Shares to which the Bondholder would have been entitled if it had exercised its Conversion Rights on the record date for the relevant dividend. The record date for these purposes is 13 August 2010.

The aggregate principal amount of Bonds outstanding at the date of this announcement is US$127,100,000. These Bonds are convertible into 27,042,553 Ordinary Shares pursuant to the Conversion Rights and accordingly the Company will (assuming no conversion or redemption of the Bonds prior to the record date) pay to Bondholders a Pass-through Dividend of £27,042,553 on the dividend payment date, being 27 August 2010.

Notes to Editors

• Heritage is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The trading symbol is HOIL. Heritage has a further listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:HOC).

• Heritage is an independent upstream exploration and production company engaged in the exploration for, and the development, production and acquisition of, oil and gas in its core areas of Africa, the Middle East and Russia.

• Heritage has a producing property in Russia and exploration projects in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malta, Pakistan, Tanzania and Mali.

• All dollars are US$ unless otherwise stated.

• For further information please refer to our website, www.heritageoilplc.com