Empire Petroleum signs drilling contract for Nevada well

Empire Petroleum Corporation has signed a drilling contract for its Nevada test well, which should commence drilling about August 15, 2006. This test is projected to test a large structure up-dip from a well which had good oil shows. The Company owns a Ten (10%) percent working interest in 44,604 lease acres and has entered into an agreement to earn an additional Thirty (30%) percent interest giving the Company a Forty (40%) percent working interest in the well and leasehold block. The Company also acquired a Forty (40%) percent interest in an additional 30,917 lease acres from the Department of the Interior on June 14, 2006, which brings the total lease acres held in the prospect to 75,721. The Company is currently doing a private placement of its shares in order to fund the cost of its increased interest in the Nevada Prospect.

Empire is also pleased to announce the appointment of Montague H. Hackett to the Board of Directors. Mr. Hackett graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School and practiced law in New York from 1959 to 1972. Since that time he has been associated with both the oil and mining industries serving as an executive and director of several companies. He currently is Co-Chairman of Victory Ventures, an investment firm and resides in New York.

Source:www.oilonline.com