Appointment

Celtic Resources Holdings PLC 19 July 2001 CELTIC RESOURCES HOLDINGS PLC CELTIC APPOINTS WILLIAM C KELLEHER AS EXECUTIVE VP OF COMPANY'S OIL AND GAS DIVISION * 22 Years Of Worldwide Exploration And Production Experience * Initial Focus On development Of Tamdykol Oil Field In Kazakhstan Celtic Resources Holdings Plc ('Celtic'), the Dublin ESM quoted company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr William C Kelleher as Executive Vice-President in charge of all the company's oil and gas activities and projects. He brings to Celtic 22 years of worldwide exploration and production experience, most recently in Kazakhstan, where he was involved in an oil discovery and the completion of two full field developments. His experience spans the world's major hydrocarbon-producing nations with the last four years in Kazakhstan, and includes senior positions with leading groups such as Occidental, Chevron, Shell and Unocal. 'Bill Kelleher has had an outstanding career in the international hydrocarbon industry', says Kevin Foo, Chairman and Managing Director of Celtic. 'He is very experienced in all aspects of the business and has a proven track record of asset enhancement. His demonstrated skills in new project development in Kazakhstan, as well as in acquisitions and project financing, will be the key to the future growth of this division of the company. I have no doubt that, under his leadership and guidance our oil and gas business will be successful.' Mr Kelleher's initial focus will be to advance operations at Celtic's Tamdykol oil field in Kazakhstan where he has recently been working with the field reserve auditors, Miller and Lents, of Houston, Texas to prepare a detailed development plan. This work has confirmed initial estimates of approximately 22m barrels of in-situ oil resources. An appraisal programme is already in progress at Tamdykol, and four test wells will be drilled in the field this year prior to production drilling in 2002. it is expected that the test wells will yield oil, but full information on the field and its economic potential will not be available until later this year. Then, reserves and production estimates will be prepared. Further Information: Kevin Foo/Claire Bolton, Celtic Resources Holdings Plc. Tel: 020-7593-0001 Ron Marshman, City of London PR Limited. Tel: 020-7628-5518 Nigel Heneghan, Heneghan Public Relations. Tel: 00-353-1-660-7395 www.celticresources.com e-mail: londonoffice@celticresources.com 19 July, 2001