The Exploration Company to Webcast IPAA Investment Symposium Presentat

    Business Editors/Energy Editors

    SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 3, 2005--The Exploration Company (Nasdaq:TXCO) will update investors and analysts on its Maverick Basin growth strategy at the Independent Petroleum Association of America's Oil & Gas Investment Symposium (OGIS) Small Cap, set for Feb. 7-8 in Palm Beach, Florida.
    Vice President-Capital Markets Roberto R. Thomae will give a 20-minute presentation scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. eastern time (12:30 p.m. central time) Monday, Feb. 7. The presentation will be available live via the Internet on TXCO's Web site at www.txco.com/presentation.html and will be archived for 90 days.
    IPAA's first OGIS Small Cap conference is an opportunity for publicly traded U.S. energy firms with market caps under $500 million to present their corporate profiles to the investment community. OGIS Small Cap is patterned after IPAA's successful OGIS New York and OGIS West conferences, which attracted more than 1,600 attendees in 2004.

    About The Exploration Company

    The Exploration Company is an independent oil and gas enterprise with interests primarily in the Maverick Basin of Southwest Texas. The Company has a consistent record of long-term growth in its proved oil and gas reserves, leasehold acreage position, production and cash flow through its established exploration and development programs. Its business strategy is to build shareholder value by acquiring undeveloped mineral interests and internally develop a multi-year drilling inventory through the use of advanced technologies, such as 3-D seismic and horizontal drilling. The Company accounts for its oil and gas operations under the successful efforts method of accounting and trades its common stock on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol "TXCO."
    More information about potential factors that could affect the Company's operating and financial results is included in TXCO's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2003, and its Form 10-Q for the quarter and year-to-date period ended Sept. 30, 2004. These and all previously filed documents are on file at the Securities and Exchange Commission and can be viewed on TXCO's Web site at www.txco.com. Copies are available without charge upon request from the Company.

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CONTACT: The Exploration Company, San Antonio Investors: Roberto R. Thomae, 210-496-5300 ext. 214 bthomae@txco.com or Media: Paul Hart, 210-496-5300 ext. 264 pdhart@txco.com

KEYWORD: TEXAS FLORIDA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: OIL/GAS BANKING ENERGY CONFERENCE CALLS SOURCE: The Exploration Company

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