McMoRan Exploration Co. Announces Positive Drilling Results at Blueberry Hill Exploratory Well

NEW ORLEANS--(Business Wire)--
McMoRan Exploration Co. (NYSE: MMR) announced today positive drilling results at
its Blueberry Hill deep gas exploratory sidetrack well located on Louisiana
State Lease 340. The well has been drilled to a true vertical depth of 21,900
feet and log-while-drilling tools have indicated resistive zones approximating
150 gross feet. These zones will be evaluated with wireline logs. McMoRan plans
to deepen the well, which has a proposed total depth of 24,000 feet, following
resolution of a mechanical issue. Blueberry Hill is located in approximately 10
feet of water near existing infrastructure.

As previously reported, on March 29, 2009, McMoRan re-entered a previously
existing well bore and commenced sidetracking operations at the Blueberry Hill
deep gas prospect. The well is targeting Gyro sands in a down-dip position on
the flank of the structure that were encountered in the original Blueberry Hill
well.

McMoRan`s Co-Chairman, James R. Moffett, said:"We are extremely encouraged by
these drilling results which indicate thickening on the flank of the Blueberry
Hill structure and a potential major discovery.We look forward to drilling
deeper to evaluate additional prospective sands encountered in the original
well.This appears to be a large structure with significant reserve potential and
additional development and exploration opportunities.Like our major discovery at
Flatrock, where six wells in the field are currently capable of producing at a
gross rate of over 300 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalents per day,
Blueberry Hill is another clear example of our deeper pool concept.Blueberry
Hill is located approximately 11 miles southeast of Flatrock and represents the
deeper expression of the structural features of the shallower Mound Point field,
which produced over 2.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalents from
multiple wells above 12,500 feet."

McMoRan owns a 42.9 percent working interest and a 29.7 percent net revenue
interest in the Blueberry Hill well and controls 150,000 gross acres in the
Tiger Shoal/Mound Point area (OCS Block 310/Louisiana State Lease 340). Plains
Exploration and Production Company (NYSE: PXP) holds a 47.9 percent working
interest. The addition of the Blueberry Hill discovery follows prior discoveries
McMoRan has made in this important area, including Flatrock, Hurricane,
Hurricane Deep, JB Mountain, and Mound Point. McMoRan has multiple additional
exploration opportunities with significant potential on this large acreage
position. McMoRan is incorporating the new information from Blueberry Hill into
its existing database for this high potential area.

McMoRan Exploration Co. is an independent public company engaged in the
exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas offshore in the
Gulf of Mexico and onshore in the Gulf Coast area. Additional information about
McMoRan is available on its internet website "www.mcmoran.com".

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: This press release contains certain forward-looking
statements regarding various oil and gas discoveries, oil and gas exploration,
development and production activities, and anticipated and potential production
and flow rates.Accuracy of these forward-looking statements depends on
assumptions about events that change over time and is thus susceptible to
periodic change based on actual experience and new developments.McMoRan cautions
readers that it assumes no obligation to update or publicly release any
revisions to the forward-looking statements in this press release and, except to
the extent required by applicable law, does not intend to update or otherwise
revise these statements more frequently than quarterly.Important factors that
might cause future results to differ from these forward-looking statements
include: adverse conditions such as high temperature and pressure that could
lead to mechanical failures or increased costs; variations in the market prices
of oil and natural gas; drilling results; unanticipated fluctuations in flow
rates of producing wells; oil and natural gas reserves expectations; the ability
to satisfy future cash obligations and environmental costs; as well as other
general exploration and development risks and hazards.These and other factors
are more fully described in McMoRan`s 2008 Annual Report on Form 10-K on file
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

McMoRan Exploration Co.
Financial Contact:
David P. Joint, 504-582-4203
or
Media Contact:
William L. Collier, 504-582-1750

Copyright Business Wire 2009