CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwire) -- 03/07/13 -- Mr. Magdy Bassaly, a director and officer of MENA Hydrocarbons Inc. ("MENA") (TSX VENTURE:MNH), has acquired, effective March 1, 2013, a total of 7,226,260 common shares ("Shares") of MENA at an effective price of $0.05 per share. These Shares were acquired from treasury on March 1, 2013 pursuant to certain term loans made by Mr. Bassaly in favour of MENA announced on November 30, 2012. In addition, Mr. Bassaly has acquired, effective March 5, 2013, a total of 5,000,000 units of the Company from treasury in connection with the private placement announced on December 14, 2012. Each unit consists of one Share and one-half of one share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant is exercisable at a price of $0.05 into one Share at any time within 12 months from the date of issue, and at a price of $0.10 thereafter until two years from date of issue. Mr. Bassaly also holds options to acquire 630,000 Shares.

As a result of the acquisitions Mr. Bassaly now holds (i) 68,126,260 Shares representing approximately 25.62% of the issued and outstanding common shares of MENA, (ii) 2,500,000 warrants to acquire Shares representing approximately 4.77% of the issued and outstanding warrants of MENA, and (iii) options to purchase a further 630,000 Shares.

An Early Warning Report respecting these acquisitions has been filed on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Review ("SEDAR") and can be viewed at www.sedar.com.

Mr. Bassaly acquired the securities referred to above for investment purposes only. The investments will be reviewed on a continual basis, and Mr. Bassaly's holdings may be increased or decreased in the future, depending upon economic or market conditions or matters relating to MENA.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.