DENVER, Colorado -- Tipperary Corporation (AMEX-TPY), an independent oil and gas company, today announced Kenneth L. Ancell will join its management team as the Executive Vice President - Corporate Development. Ancell has served on Tipperary's Board of Directors since July 1996 and has been a consulting engineer for 22 years.

David L. Bradshaw, Tipperary Corporation's president and CEO, said, "We are delighted to bring Ken Ancell on staff. While he has already added a great deal to our Board, the Company will benefit even further from this new relationship."

Ancell has experience in most of the coalbed methane producing basins in the world. In addition, he has served as the Society of Petroleum Engineers' Distinguished Lecturer on coalbed methane reserves and as senior project advisor for the United Nations' coalbed methane project in China.

Tipperary's 90% owned subsidiary, Tipperary Oil & Gas (Australia) Pty Ltd., owns a 55.75% interest in the one-million-acre Comet Ridge coalbed methane project in Queensland, Australia. The Company has recently been granted additional exploration permits by the Queensland government. After native title investigations and final delineation of the grants, the Company believes the new permits will total several hundred thousand acres.

Ancell said, "I have watched the Comet Ridge project grow from inception to its current production rate of approximately 10 million cubic feet of gas per day. Based upon my experience with coalbed methane properties over the past 20 years, I believe this should be one of the premier coalbed methane projects in the world."

Bradshaw said Ancell will maintain an office in Houston, and the Company's headquarters will remain in Denver. Ancell, 57, is a 1964 graduate of the Colorado School of Mines.

In addition to its major interest in the Australia coalbed methane project, Denver-based Tipperary has producing properties primarily in the Rocky Mountain region and in the Permian Basin of west Texas and southeast New Mexico.

Information herein contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which can be identified by words such as "may," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate" or "continue," or comparable words. In addition, all statements other than statements of historical facts that address activities that Tipperary expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Readers are encouraged to read the SEC reports of Tipperary, particularly its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 1998, for meaningful cautionary language disclosing why actual results may vary materially from those anticipated by management.