Anatolia Energy awarded three new Dadas Shale prospective licences

Anatolia Energy Corp. (the "Company") (TSX-V:AEE.V - News) is pleased to announce that it has been jointly awarded three new Dadas Shale prospective licences in the Gaziantep District in southern Turkey with its partner, Çalık Enerji San. ve Tic. AŞ. ("Calik").  The three licences cover a contiguous area of 366,990 gross acres (183,495 net) and are immediately adjacent to the existing Antep block in which Anatolia can earn a 50% interest.

The addition of these new licences expands Anatolia's acreage position in the Antep block to 845,418 gross acres (422,709 net) and covers what the Company believes to be the entire extent of the prospective shale acreage within the Antep Basin. On June 11, 2012, the Company announced an updated NI 51-101 compliant resource evaluation report by Ryder Scott Petroleum Consultants in which it assigned a P50 gross best estimate of 318 million barrels (159 MMbbls net) of unrisked prospective resources in the Dadas Shale on the Antep block, excluding the three new licence awards.

On an aggregate basis, the Company now has an interest in 11 licences in Turkey with exposure to 1.2 million gross acres (581,429 net) of Dadas Shale and/or conventional oil prospective acreage.

Within the Antep area, Anatolia has identified an expansive area of prospective Dadas Shale and a large portfolio of prospects in the Ordovician Bedinan sand and the Cretaceous Mardin carbonates. Based on recently acquired and interpreted seismic on the original Antep licences, Anatolia's technical team has mapped a large, faulted structure that extends into the newly awarded licences.

Antep Drilling

The Company, along with its partner, expects to spud its first well at Antep in August 2012. The targeted well will be drilled on the original Antep licences, to an approximate depth of 2,600 meters and is expected to test both the Dadas Shale and the conventional Bedinan Sand which sits directly below the Dadas Shale.  Similar to the recent Caliktepe-2 well, a core will be cut in the Dadas Shale interval and sent for detailed analysis to a specialized core lab in Calgary.  The partners intend on proceeding with a hydraulic fracture stimulation to obtain critical data from the shale reservoir to aid in horizontal well and fracture stimulation design.

About Anatolia Energy Corp.

Anatolia is an international oil and gas company engaged in the exploration and development of oil and gas assets in Turkey. Anatolia has the right, pursuant to its joint venture agreements with Çalık Enerji San. ve Tic. AŞ., the wholly-owned oil and gas subsidiary of the large Turkish conglomerate Çalık Holding A.Ş., to earn working interests between 25% and 50% in two development licences and working interests 50% in nine exploration licences covering 1,162,856 gross acres of land in Turkey's proven Southeastern oil basin. Anatolia is focused on four play types in Turkey namely the Silurian Dadas shale oil trend, Paleozoic Bedinan sand trend, Cretaceous Mardin strike slip trend and Garzan reef trend.  The Dadas formation in southeast Turkey is an extension of the prolific Silurian source rocks of the Middle East.

Cautionary Statements

Prospective resources are those quantities of petroleum estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from undiscovered accumulations by application of future development projects. Prospective resources have both an associated chance of discovery and a chance of development.  There is no certainty that it will be commercially viable to produce any portion of the prospective resources.

"Best estimate" means the best estimate of the quantity that will actually be recovered. It is equally likely that the actual quantities recovered will be greater or less than the best estimate. If probabilistic methods are used, there should be at least a 50% probability (P50) that the quantities actually recovered will equal or exceed the best estimate.

Certain information included in this press release constitutes forward-looking information under applicable securities legislation.  Such forward-looking information is provided for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Forward-looking information typically contains statements with words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "estimate", "propose", "project" or similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Forward-looking information in this press release may include, but is not limited to, information with respect to: ultimate viability of the Dadas Shale, operational decisions and the timing thereof, and timing for drilling and exploration plans on the properties of Anatolia.  Forward-looking information is based on a number of factors and assumptions which have been used to develop such information but which may prove to be incorrect.  Although Anatolia believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information is reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information because Anatolia can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all factors and assumptions which have been used.  Anatolia undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. For further information on the Company and the risks associated with its business, please see the Company's AIF dated June 4, 2012, which is available on SEDAR.  The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information.

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

Contacts

Peter Argiris
VP Business Development
Anatolia Energy Corp.
403.802.0770 ext. 225