Hyperdynamics Announces Strategic Additions to its Technical and Operational Staff

HOUSTON, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hyperdynamics Corporation (NYSE Amex: HDY) announced today the addition of three key technical and operational staff members:   Kenneth A. Nibbelink was named Chief Geologist, Donald E. Rice was appointed Senior Geophysicist, and Dennis Morton has joined the company as Operations Manager, based in Conakry, Republic of Guinea.

"As we are beginning to receive data from the ongoing 3D seismic survey of our oil and gas concession in Guinea, there is a tremendous amount of work to be done in monitoring the processing of the raw data and interpreting that data," said Ray Leonard, Hyperdynamics' President and Chief Executive Officer.

"Ken and Don have extensive experience in the Atlantic margin and in West Africa in particular, and they were key players in many international discoveries.  They will work under Exploration VP Steve Barrett as we formulate our initial drilling program offshore Guinea," he said.

"Although our first well is not planned to be drilled until late next year, we must begin laying the groundwork in Guinea for procuring critical support items such as warehouses and storage yards, helicopter transportation services, construction contracting, materials and equipment purchasing, general logistics and training of workers," Leonard added.  

"Dennis has 11 years of experience managing international projects in Tunisia, Gabon, India, Syria and Equatorial Guinea.  Working under our VP of Operations, Mike Palmer, Dennis will be responsible for establishing working commercial relationships in-country with our future suppliers and workers. In addition to organizing the logistics, he will also train our local staff to handle the many tasks that need to be done for this drilling program, with a goal of creating new jobs in Guinea, rather than importing expatriates," Leonard said.

Nibbelink most recently was senior geologic advisor with Devon Energy's global basin studies team, where he worked from 1999-2010; he previously held positions in prospect generation in West Africa with Amoco. At Devon, Nibbelink was technical lead on five exploration projects in West Africa in Ghana, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. He also was geologic advisor for Devon projects in Brazil, Argentina, French Guyana, Guyana, Suriname, the Falklands and Uruguay.

Rice previously was with Anadarko Petroleum for more than 10 years, where he was geophysical advisor for prospect generation in West Africa.  He began his career at Amoco, where he worked on international projects in West Africa.

Morton most recently was field operations manager for SINOPEC (China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation) in Syria, overseeing heavy oil field operations.  Previously he was operations manager for U.K.-based Cairn Energy in India and was a senior process engineer for British Gas in Tunisia.  Earlier he was production supervisor for Marathon Oil in Gabon and managed the commissioning of an expansion of the Alba field in Equatorial Guinea for Marathon.

About Hyperdynamics

Hyperdynamics is an emerging independent oil and gas exploration and production company that is exploring for oil and gas offshore the Republic of Guinea in West Africa.  To find out more, visit our website at www.hyperdynamics.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release and the Company's website referenced in this news release contain forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, regarding Hyperdynamics Corporation's future plans and expected performance that are based on assumptions the Company believes to be reasonable. Statements preceded by, followed by or that otherwise include the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "projects", "estimates", "plans", "may increase", "may result", "will result", "may fluctuate" and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will", "should", "would", "may" and "could" are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements, including without limitation, funding and exploration efforts, fluctuations in oil and gas prices and other risk factors described from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the SEC, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update these forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the issuance of this news release or to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with respect to these forward looking statements.

HDY-IR

SOURCE Hyperdynamics Corporation