Energy XXI Names New VPs

Energy XXI (Bermuda) Limited on Friday announced the appointments of Hugh A. Menown as vice president and chief accounting officer and Tom J. O'Donnell as vice president of corporate development and planning.

Menown, 48, has more than 26 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, auditing and managerial finance, and has been performing similar roles at Energy XXI on a consultant basis since August 2006. He previously worked with Quanta Services, Inc. performing due diligence on a number of acquisitions as well as serving as chief financial officer for two of Quanta's operating companies.

From 1987 to 1999, Menown provided audit and related services for clients at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP in the Houston office, where for seven years he was the partner in charge of the transaction services practice providing due diligence, mergers and acquisition advisory and strategic consulting to numerous clients in various industries. Menown serves on the board of directors of Particle Drilling Technologies, Inc. as chairman of the audit committee and a member of the compensation committee. He is a certified public accountant and a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

O'Donnell, 47, has served as Energy XXI's director of corporate development and planning since July 2006. He has 21 years of industry experience, 15 of which were at Burlington Resources in various positions including business development, reservoir engineering, facility engineering and production engineering. He began his career in 1986 as a production engineer in Mobil's Lafayette, La., office. O'Donnell is a 1986 graduate of Texas A&M University with a bachelor's degree in petroleum engineering. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and the Texas Board of Professional Engineers.

"Hugh and Tom have been integral to the company's growth to date, and in their expanded new roles will help take us to the next level,'' Energy XXI Chairman and CEO John Schiller said. "The hybrid acquire-and-exploit and exploration strategy we employ benefits from the unique skill sets Hugh and Tom have demonstrated over the course of their careers. We welcome them into their new roles.''

Energy XXI is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company whose growth strategy emphasizes acquisitions, enhanced by its value-added organic drilling program. The company's properties are primarily located in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico waters and the Gulf Coast onshore. In April 2007, Energy XXI announced an agreement to purchase Gulf of Mexico shelf properties from Pogo Producing Company. Due to the proposed transaction, the company's registration statement on Form S-1, which in April was declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, has been suspended. Nonetheless, Energy XXI continues to expect its common stock to be listed on the NASDAQ system under the symbol `EXXI' later this quarter. Collins Stewart Europe Limited and Jefferies International are Energy XXI listing brokers in the United Kingdom. In the United States, Jefferies & Company, BMO Capital Markets, Collins Stewart and Natexis Bleichroeder are market makers.