July 14, 2005

PETROLEUM & RESOURCES CORPORATION DECLARES DIVIDEND AND REPORTS PERFORMANCE FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED JUNE 30, 2005

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, July 14, 2005, - The Board of Directors of Petroleum & Resources Corporation today declared a dividend of $0.13 per share, payable September 1, 2005, to stockholders of record, August 16, 2005.

Performance

For the six months ended June 30th, the total return on Petroleum & Resources' net asset value, after adjusting for income dividends as well as capital gain distributions paid, was 16.8 percent. Comparable figures for the Dow Jones Oil and Gas Index and the Standard & Poor's Index of 500 Stocks were 19.6 percent and -0.8 percent, respectively.

For the twelve months ended June 30th, the total return on Petroleum & Resources' net asset value, after adjusting for income dividends as well as capital gain distributions paid, was 30.5 per cent. Comparable figures for the Dow Jones Oil and Gas Index and the Standard & Poor's Index of 500 Stocks were 37.7 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively.

The net asset value of Petroleum & Resources at June 30, 2005, is compared with the year earlier in the following table:

*After capital gain distributions of $0.08 per share paid in March 2005.

The realized capital gains through June 30, 2005 amounted to $0.48 per share.

The Corporation repurchased 345,400 shares of its Common Stock during the six month period.

Securities Transactions

During the three months ended June 30, 2005, Petroleum & Resources added one new name to its investment list with the purchase of Newfield Exploration Co., and added to its existing holdings in Exxon Mobil Corp., GlobalSantaFe Corp., Holly Corp., Nabors Industries Ltd., Precision Drilling Corp., and XTO Energy Inc.

Reductions were made in the holdings of Amerada Hess Corp., Apache Corp., Arch Coal Inc., Devon Energy Corp., Kerr-McGee Corp., and Murphy Oil Corp.

Petroleum & Resources Corporation is a Baltimore-based closed-end investment company traded on the New York Stock Exchange and Pacific Exchange under the symbol PEO.

The Semi-Annual Report is expected to be released on or about July 20, 2005.

For further information, please contact:

Douglas G. Ober, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer & President
Lawrence L. Hooper, Jr., Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary
(410) 752-5900 or (800) 638-2479

E-mail: contact@peteres.com
Website: www.peteres.com