Joint Venture

Aminex PLC 25 May 2000 AMINNEX PLC ANNOUNCES E-COMMERCE JOINT VENTURE Aminex PLC (the 'Company') the oil and gas development, production and oilfield services group listed on the London and Dublin Stock Exchanges today announces that it has formed a joint venture with ci4net.com Limited ('ci4net.com') to develop an Internet market place for oil field procurement and technical services. Under the terms of the joint venture, the Company has agreed to transfer the entire issued share capital of its existing and well established services and supply division, Aminex Oilfield Service & Supply Company Ltd, ('Amossco') to a newly incorporated company (the 'new company'), which will act as the joint venture vehicle, in return for 500 shares of £1 each in the joint venture company which will be retained by the Company. ci4net.com has agreed to subscribe for 500 shares of £1 each in the new company at par. The new company will operate as a 'deadlock' joint venture with board representation from both the Company and ci4net.com. The new venture will provide online access to Amossco's business and the technical expertise to achieve this will be provided by ci4net.com. The Company believes that the Internet platform will allow Amossco to expand its business and operate more efficiently, giving it access to a larger market. As part of the deal the Company will continue to route its procurement requirements for its exploration and production activities through the new joint venture. The joint venture will create a competitive business to business (B2B) platform based on the existing customer and supplier relationships. Amossco has two divisions, Amossco ODS and Amossco Halyard. Amossco ODS procures and markets oilfield and related equipment internationally from bases in London and Houston and is also an industrial products distributor. Amossco Halyard is a technical consultancy that also provides management and marketing services. At 31 December 1999, Amossco had net assets of $335,000 and for the year ended 31 December 1999 reported an operating loss of $755,000. ci4net.com is a global economic network of e-commerce partner companies focused on adding value, stability and growth. Commenting on the announcement, Brian Hall, Chief Executive of Aminex, said: 'This is a significant move for Aminex as it will allow the oil field services division to access a much larger market and will provide our customers with the flexibility which online procurement can offer. We believe that Aminex is well placed to develop such a market as it already has expertise in oil field services. It will be among the early companies to offer such products and services over the Internet. We are very pleased to have ci4net.com as our joint venture partner as they are highly experienced and have a successful track record in providing B2B e-commerce solutions.' Enquiries: Brian Hall, Chief Executive Simon Butterfield, Finance Director Aminex Tel: 0207 240 1600 John Evans Financial Dynamics Tel: 020 7831 3113