Does anyone know where this stock is going?

The half years below seem encouraging - and the sp today is reflecting this. I am still looking at a loss on these after buying at 9.6p. Are they ever going to break 10p?

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Northern Petroleum Plc

('Northern,' the 'Company' or the 'Group')

Interim Results for the Six Months Ended 30 June 2004

Highlights

* Net cash of 5.5 million (30 June 2003: 1.6 million)

* Net assets of 6.5 million (30 June 2003: 2.5 million)

* Planning permission granted for Sandhills-2 appraisal well on Isle of Wight

* New Licences awarded in UK Onshore 12th round

* Interest acquired in licence offshore Guyane with significant value
transforming potential

* Drilling programme in south of England underway as soon as practicable

Chairman's Statement

We are now entering a most exciting period for the Group when the fruits of so
much labour can be realised. The grant of planning permission by the Isle of
Wight Council for the Sandhills-2 appraisal well will, we hope, be rapidly
followed by permission to drill the Bouldnor Copse-1 well also on the Isle of
Wight. This would enable us to arrange back to back drilling of those two wells
to economic advantage. These two wells have an estimated potential of 40-135
million barrels of recoverable oil net to Northern.

We also continue to seek a suitable location near Southampton for the Hedge
End-2 well. An application for planning permission will be submitted as soon as
a location can be leased. The latest work on the Hedge End structure has
indicated a considerable upside potential if the projected stratigraphic
trapping is proven. Also in Hampshire the long awaited drilling of Avington-3
is anticipated in the coming months. It is designed to confirm and appraise
last year's Avington-2 oil discovery in which Northern holds a 5% interest.

In Kent, now that we have been granted a key new licence and once we have
completed the acquisition or leasing of the drill site, we will be seeking
planning permission for a well near Maidstone on PEDL 112 as indicated in the
Annual Report.

I am very pleased that we were successful in all our applications for new
licences in the 12th Landward licensing round. These have added several new
prospects to Northern's inventory and also give Northern rights over areas made
more prospective by drilling success in the currently planned wells.

Recently it was very pleasing to be able to announce a new area of interest,
offshore Guyane. Whilst this is outside our normal area of operations and the
interest we have acquired is small, the enormous potential of this very large
exploration block together with the relatively modest cost of acquiring and
drilling this new property are attractive to us. Six prospects have been mapped
each with the potential to yield in excess of one billion barrels of
recoverable oil. Even our 1.25% net interest is significant when dealing with a
field of such size.

I believe that our position in Italy is not fully recognised. We are now the
largest UK exploration company operating in Italy and this presence has been
further enhanced by the award of new licences. We have now been awarded, or
have outstanding applications for, an area covering 8,393km2 , equivalent to
about 42 North Sea blocks. Ongoing work is confirming the prospectivity of
these awards. A certain amount of patience has been needed, but now it is time
to draw more attention to an asset that could be described as very significant.
However viewed, it is not small.

Our oil production from our interests in Spain and mainly from the Horndean oil
field in Hampshire produced an approximate 50,000 contribution over the first
half of the year. As has been reported before, the Spanish interests can become
significantly more profitable through new production using the largely fixed
cost facility structure and we hope to report progress on this soon.

The Group is pleased to report a reduced loss for the period, excluding
exceptional items, of 275,000, as against a corresponding loss of 366,000 for
the six month period to 30 June 2003. This result is ahead of budget and
demonstrates the Group's continued tight control of its cost base during a
period of significant growth in activity. As a consequence I can report that
the annual net running costs are currently about 2% of the market
capitalisation.

The next few months will be a time of huge interest to us as the drilling
programme aims to confirm the concepts developed by our talented technical
team. I look forward with the greatest confidence to the results.

Consolidated Profit and Loss Account

For the six month period ended 30 June 2004

6 month 6 month
period ended period ended Year ended
30 June 30 June 31 December
2004 2003 2003
(unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
'000 '000 '000

Turnover 230 225 437

Cost of sales

Production costs (179) (193) (334)

Depreciation, depletion and (50) (96) (125)
amortisation

(229) (289) (459)

Gross profit/(loss) 1 (64) (22)

Administrative expenses (375) (335) (581)

Other operating income 43 13 61

Operating loss (331) (386) (542)

Amounts written off current asset - 151 (546)
investments

Interest receivable 59 23 43

Loss on ordinary activities before (272) (212) (1,045)
taxation

Tax on loss on ordinary activities (3) (3) (16)

Loss for the period (275) (215) (1,061)

Basic loss per share (0.12)p (0.13)p (0.62)p

Diluted loss per share (0.12)p (0.13)p (0.62)p

Consolidated Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses

For the six month period ended 30 June 2004

6 month 6 month
period ended period ended Year ended
30 June 30 June 31 December
2004 2003 2003
(unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
'000 '000 '000

Loss for the period (275) (215) (1,061)

Profit on deemed disposal of - - 66
subsidiary to minority interests

Exchange differences on (17) - 20
retranslation of net assets of
subsidiary undertakings

Total recognised gains and (292) (215) (975)
losses

Consolidated Balance Sheet

As at 30 June 2004

30 June 30 June 31 December
2004 2003 2003
(unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
'000 '000 '000

Fixed assets

Intangible assets 899 238 593

Negative goodwill (5) (32) (10)

Tangible assets 303 144 330

Total fixed assets 1,197 350 913

Current assets

Stocks 130 - 139

Debtors 457 392 467

Investments - 924 226

Cash at bank and in hand 5,546 1,589 2,945

6,133 2,905 3,777

Creditors:

Amounts falling due within one 589 584 644
year

Net current assets 5,544 2,321 3,133

Creditors: amounts falling due 51 41 53
after more than one year

Provision for liabilities and 106 81 110
charges

Total assets less liabilities 6,584 2,549 3,883

Minority shareholders' interest 59 - 59

6,525 2,549 3,824

Capital and reserves

Called up share capital 7,099 6,036 6,574

Share premium account 9,263 5,298 6,795

Profit and loss account (9,837) (8,785) (9,545)

Shareholders' funds - equity 6,525 2,549 3,824

Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

For the six month period ended 30 June 2004

6 month 6 month
period ended period ended Year ended
30 June 30 June 31 December
2004 2003 2003
(unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
'000 '000 '000

Net cash outflow from operating (315) (88) (247)
activities

Returns on investments and servicing
of finance

Interest received 59 21 43

Taxation

Corporation tax paid (3) - (28)

Capital expenditure and financial (343) (150) (648)
investments

Management of liquid resources

Sale of current asset investments 226 - -

Cash outflow before financing (376) (217) (880)

Financing

Issue of ordinary shares for cash (net 2,993 - 2,036
of commissions)

Increase/(decrease) in cash for the 2,617 (217) 1,156
period

Reconciliation of operating loss to
net cash flow from operating
activities:

Operating loss (331) (386) (542)

Depreciation, depletion and 55 102 133
amortisation

Amortisation of negative goodwill (5) (7) (14)

Depreciation - non oil and gas 5 2 6
tangible assets

Decrease/(increase) in stocks 9 - (1)

Decrease/(increase) in operating 8 3 (66)
debtors and prepayments

(Decrease)/increase in operating (55) 198 223
creditors and accruals

Fair value adjustment - - (20)

Exchange adjustments (1) - 34

16 298 295

Net cash outflow from operating (315) (88) (247)
activities

Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net funds:

Increase/(decrease) in cash for 2,617 (217) 1,155
the period

Exchange adjustments (16) - (16)

Net funds at start of period 2,945 1,806 1,806

Net funds at end of period 5,546 1,589 2,945

Notes to the Accounts

For the six month period ended 30 June 2004

1. The results for the period are all derived from continuing activities.

2. For oil and gas projects, the full cost accounting policy has been adopted,
whereby all costs are accumulated in cost pools and are then written off to the
extent that they are not supported by underlying oil and gas reserves, unless
the expenditure relates to an area where it is too early to make such a
decision. Expenditure in the latter category has been included on the balance
sheet under intangible assets.

3. During the second half of 2004 the Group will perform a final fair value
review of its acquisition of the producing Horndean oil field, with any
required adjustments being made in the 2004 annual accounts.

4. The calculation of the basic and diluted loss per share has been based on
the loss after taxation for the period and the average number of ordinary
shares in issue throughout the period after adjusting for the 52,500,000
ordinary shares issued in an April 2004 placing.

5. The unaudited results have been prepared on the basis of the accounting
policies adopted in the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2003.

6. The interim report is unaudited and does not constitute Statutory Accounts
as defined in Section 240 of the Companies Act 1985. A copy of the group's 2003
Statutory Accounts has been filed with the Registrar of Companies.

7. The interim report for the six months to 30 June 2004 was approved by the
Directors on
28 September 2004.

For further information please contact,

Derek Musgrove, Managing director

Northern Petroleum Plc

Tel. 020 7743 6080

Chris Roberts / Ben Simons

Hansard Communications

Tel. 020 7245 1100