Iona Energy Announces Organizational Update

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN
UNITED STATES 


Iona Energy Inc. ("Iona" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:INA) is pleased to
announce an organizational update, welcoming Philip Oldham as Interim Chief
Operating Officer, David Sherrard as VP Developments, and Nick Ritchie as VP
Asset Management. 


Mr. Philip Oldham, Interim Chief Operating Officer 

Mr. Philip Oldham originally joined the Company to elevate its capacity for
execution and growth as a UK North Sea operator. Mr. Oldham brings valuable
executive level broad business and commercial North Sea experience with respect
to operatorship, joint ventures, new business operations, supply chain
management, and infrastructure access. He will be responsible for growing the
Company's operational capacity, leading Iona's transition to becoming Operator
at Trent & Tyne and advancing the Orlando oil field development with its
partners, until a permanent replacement is found for Mr. Alan Curran, the
Company's previous Chief Operating Officer. 


Mr. Oldham previously led the organizational development of Nexen Petroleum U.K.
Limited ("Nexen UK") from a small non-operated position to being the second
largest oil production operator in the UK Continental Shelf. At the time of his
departure, Nexen UK had grown to over 1,200 staff and was producing
approximately 250,000 boepd. Mr. Oldham managed typical annual net cash flows of
$3 billion and operations and development budgets of $1 billion each. As a
member of Nexen's Corporate Executive Management Committee, he also assisted in
overviewing all corporate operations and activities worldwide. Additionally, Mr.
Oldham was a Director of six Nexen subsidiaries, including Nexen Exploration
Norway AS and Nexen Energy Marketing Limited. 


Mr. Oldham graduated from the University of Leicester with a Bachelor of Science
and a Master of Science in Fluid Mechanics. 


Mr. David Sherrard, VP Developments 

Mr. David Sherrard will resume his role as VP Developments, the position he held
with Iona between December 2010 and July 2013, when he became the Company's
Reserves Advisor. John Baillie, Iona's VP Developments since mid-2013, will be
leaving the company to pursue other interests. Iona would like to thank Mr.
Baillie for his hard work and efforts during his time with the Company and wish
him continued success in his future endeavors. 


Mr. Sherrard has worked as an upstream technical manager for over 30 years,
gaining Major company experience in Europe and North America with Chevron and
BP. He was the development manager at BP's Wytch Farm oil field in England where
world record step-out horizontal wells were the transforming technology that
unlocked reserves. Latterly at BP, Mr. Sherrard was responsible for the
management of a portfolio of joint venture gas field operations in the UK
Southern North Sea covering pre-development acreage, producing fields, pipelines
and terminals, and was tasked with all technical and commercial activities that
underpinned 200 MMscf/d of gas production. 


Most recently before joining Iona, Mr. Sherrard was responsible for the growth
and transformation of a $5 million subsurface consultancy (RML) into a $100
million per annum broad based service provider (Senergy) offering high-end
professional advice covering well operations and a full compliment of technical
advisory services. Specific responsibilities included staff recruitment and
management that saw the organization grow from 20 to 400 staff, client
engagement, and leading the overall technical direction of the subsurface
business. Mr. Sherrard was International Director for Senergy with remit to
rationalize international offices and build regional management teams in the
Middle East and Asia Pacific. In this period he was based in Abu Dhabi and,
later, in Singapore. 


Mr. Sherrard graduated from Cambridge University with a B.A. in Engineering
Science and later earned a Master degree in Petroleum Engineering from Heriot
Watt University in Edinburgh. He is also a Chartered Petroleum Engineer and is a
member of Iona's Health, Safety and Environment Committee. 


Mr. Nick Ritchie, VP Asset Management 

Mr. Nick Ritchie originally joined Iona in February 2014 and, having quickly
demonstrated strong capability, has been promoted to the role of VP Asset
Management. Mr. Ritchie is responsible for numerous facets of delivery items for
the Company's Orlando, Kells, and West Wick developments, and additionally holds
the role of Interim Drilling and Wells Manager in relation to Iona's numerous
development efforts. 


Prior to joining Iona, Mr. Ritchie was the Director Facilities Engineering and
New Developments Technical Director for Endeavour Energy UK Ltd ("Endeavour").
While at Endeavour Mr. Ritchie was a member of the International Leadership Team
and during his tenure was jointly accountable for delivering significant
reserves and production growth, as well as engaging in strategic planning and
business development. He was instrumental in the creation, day-to-day running,
resourcing and output of the facilities engineering and new development division
at Endeavour. He was OCM chairman and Asset Manager for the Rochelle development
and the Renee/Rubie decommissioning projects, as well as the non-operated Joint
Venture manager for the Columbus and the Ivanhoe/Rob Roy and Goldeneye
decommissioning projects. Mr. Ritchie was accountable for up to $1 billion in
international development projects and over $200 million in decommissioning
projects. 


Mr. Ritchie graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a BEng (Hons)
Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering - 1st, obtaining Deans certificate
of merit on 1st, 2nd and 3rd years of study and was awarded the technical prize
on final year.


Additional information relating to the Company is available on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com.


About Iona Energy: 

Iona is an oil and gas exploration, development and production company focused
on oil and gas development and exploration in the United Kingdom's North Sea.


Notes Regarding Oil and Gas Disclosure 

As used in this press release, "boe" means barrel of oil equivalent on the basis
of 6 mcf of natural gas to 1 bbl of oil. Boes may be misleading, particularly if
used in isolation. A boe conversion ratio of 6 mcf: 1 bbl is based on an energy
equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does
not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead.  


Additionally, this press release uses certain abbreviations as follows:



Oil and Natural Gas Liquids            Natural Gas                          
------------------------------------   -------------------------------------
boepd   barrels of oil equivalent      MMscf    Millions of standard cubic  
        per day                                 feet                        



Neither the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. nor its Regulation Services Provider (as
that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: 
Iona Energy Inc.
Neill A. Carson
Chief Executive Officer
[phone]


Iona Energy Inc.
Graham A. Heath
Interim Chief Financial Officer
[phone]