To the Stockholders and Board of Directors of Swift Energy Company:

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheet of Swift Energy Company and subsidiaries as of December 31,2002, and the related consolidated statements of income, stockholders’ equity and cash flows for the year then ended. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. The consolidated financial statements of Swift Energy Company and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2001, and for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2001, were audited by other auditors who have ceased operations and whose report dated February 18, 2002, expressed an unqualified opinion on those statements.

We conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, the 2002 financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of Swift Energy Company and subsidiaries at December 31, 2002, and the consolidated results of their operations and their cash flows for the year then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.

                                                                                                             ERNST & YOUNG LLP

Houston, Texas
February 10, 2003