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 that Alan Curran has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer of the
Corporation effective March 1, 2012. Mr. Curran has more than 29 years of
experience in the oil and gas exploration and production industry. He has been
involved in a senior management capacity with a number of companies active in
the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea. Mr. Curran graduated from Edinburgh
University with a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Chemical Engineering.
After graduation he joined Shell U.K. Limited where he worked in a variety of
petroleum engineering, production operations and new field development roles. In
1992, Mr. Curran moved to Oryx Energy which was acquired by Kerr-McGee
Corporation ("Kerr-McGee") in 1999. During his time at Kerr-McGee, Mr. Curran
worked in a range of subsurface, asset management and commercial roles
progressively becoming a key member of the UK leadership team. His final duties
with Kerr-McGee entailed the sale of the UK business in 2005 to Maersk Oil North
Sea UK Ltd. ("Maersk") and Centrica plc for approximately US$3.5 billion.
Following the sale, Mr. Curran worked with Maersk until March 2006 when he
joined Lundin Britain Ltd. as Managing Director, a position he held until March
2009. Prior to joining Iona, Mr. Curran was Chief Executive of Wood Group (John)
plc's North Sea subsidiary. 


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


About Iona Energy:

Iona Energy Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Iona Energy Company (UK)
Limited (collectively, "Iona" or the "Company"), 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.