Sydney, Apr 7, 2008 (ABN Newswire) - Elk Petroleum Limited (ASX: ELK), through its wholly owned subsidiary Elk Petroleum, Inc., has signed an oil and gas lease agreement with the Crow Indian Tribe over sovereign lands held by the Tribe in Montana. The acreage comprises 88,420 acres and is close to the area where Elk already controls an additional 11,930 leased acres. The company maintains a 100% working interest in the total lease areas held, and under the terms of the Crow Tribe lease is able to assign interest to third parties with approval of the Tribe.

The Company expects that formal ratification of the lease with the Tribe will be received from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in due course. Once that is achieved, Elk will commence its exploration activities in the area and is confident that success from this cooperative effort with the Crow Nation will result in sustainable economic development of the Reservation lands.

Similar geology and play analogs can be found in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Northern Montana where thousands of wells have been drilled in shallow gas zones and, specifically, sands encased in thick organic-rich Cretaceous shale. This exploration play is expected to be regionally extensive extending into southern Montana and to be characterised by multiple gas zones at depths of less than 500m.

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