Rockpool Acqui Regulatory News (ROC)

13 Feb 2008 07:01

Roc Oil Company Limited13 February 2008 13 February 2008 ROC OIL COMPANY LIMITED ("ROC") STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE DRILLING ACTIVITY UPDATE: NEW EXPLORATION/APPRAISAL DRILLING 1. Block 22/12, Beibu Gulf, Offshore China (ROC: 40% & Operator) Roc Oil (China) Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of ROC, advises that as atnoon (local time) on 12 February 2008, the Premium "Murmanskaya" jack-up rigcommenced drilling the Wei 6-12E-1 exploration well, on a stratigraphic-structural prospect approximately 1.7 kilometres east of the Wei 6-12S-1 oildiscovery. As at 0600 (local time) on 13 February 2008 the current operation was drilling17 1/2" hole to 277 mBRT. Wei 6-12E-1, the second of the planned three well exploration/appraisal drillingprogramme in Block 22/12, is expected to reach a Total Depth of approximately2,520 mBRT by end February 2008. Participating Interests in the Block 22/12 Joint Venture are: Roc Oil (China) Company..................................... 40% (Operator)Horizon Oil Limited......................................... 30%Petsec Petroleum*........................................... 25%Oil Australia Pty Ltd**...................................... 5%The above interests are subject to Government participation in developments ofup to 51%*a subsidiary of Petsec Energy Ltd **a subsidiary of First Australian Resources 2. WA-286-P, Perth Basin, Offshore Western Australia (ROC: 37.5% & Operator) Roc Oil (WA) Pty Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of ROC, advises that as at1830 hours (local time) on 12 February 2008, the Premium "WilCraft" jack-updrilling rig commenced drilling the Frankland-2 appraisal well in WA-286-P, inthe North Perth Basin, offshore Western Australia. As at 0600 hours (local time) on 13 February 2008 the current operation wasrunning 20" casing to 119 mBRT. Frankland-2, an appraisal well approximately one kilometre northeast of the 2007Frankland-1 gas discovery, is the second of the planned two well exploration/appraisal programme in the region. Frankland-2 is scheduled to reach a proposedTotal Depth of 2,278 metres by the end of February 2008. Participating Interests in the WA-286-P joint venture are: Roc Oil (WA) Pty Limited.................................... 37.5%AWE Oil (Western Australia) Pty Ltd......................... 27.5%ARC Energy (Offshore PB) Limited............................ 30.0%CIECO Exploration and Production (Australia) Pty Ltd......... 5.0% 3. Offshore Mauritania (ROC: 2 - 5.9%) Roc Oil (Mauritania) Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of ROC, is pleased toadvise the imminent commencement of a two well exploration/appraisal drillingprogramme offshore Mauritania. The Atwood "Hunter" drilling rig will shortly commence drilling the Petronas-operated Khop-1 exploration well in PSC Area C, Block 6, approximately 70 kilometres off the Mauritanian coast. The well, which is in approximately 925 metres of water, is expected to reach aplanned Total Depth of approximately 4,320 mBRT during March 2008. The Khop-1well will test the dominant structural feature in Block C6, a four way dipstructure of Albian aged sandstones covering an area of 220 square kilometres/54,000 acres with a vertical closure of 1,200 metres. The P90, P50, P10 and meanrecoverable oil reserve estimates range from more than 100 MMBO to more than1,000 MMBO. The second well in the two well programme, located in PSC Area B, will appraisethe 2002 Banda gas and oil discovery during April 2008. Participating Interests in the PSC Area C, Block 6 are: Roc Oil (Mauritania) Company................................. 5.00%PC Mauritania I Pty Ltd (Operator).......................... 37.578%Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn Bhd.......................... 35.000%Hardman Petroleum (Mauritania) Pty Ltd...................... 18.422%Planet Oil Mauritania Limited................................ 4.000% Participating Interests in the PSC Area B are: Roc Group Companies.......................................... 3.693%PC Mauritania I Pty Ltd (Operator).......................... 53.846%Hardman Chinguetti Production Pty Ltd ...................... 21.600%Mauritania Holdings B.V..................................... 11.630%Premier Oil Mauritania B Limited............................. 6.000%FP Mauritania B B.V. .........................................3.231% 4. CEO's Comments Commenting on the commencement of the three new wells, ROC's Chief ExecutiveOfficer, John Doran stated that: "ROC is going through a period of record exploration and appraisal drillingactivity. Four wells in four countries simultaneously testing targets in shallowwater offshore China and Western Australia, deepwater offshore Mauritania andonshore Angola. The perceived risks range from high frontier exploration tolower risk appraisal while the size of the individual features being testedranges up to hundreds of millions of barrels of recoverable oil. Three of thefour wells are operated by ROC, the exception being the well in Mauritania. Whenthese four wells are finished and regardless of their results, ROC's 2008exploration and appraisal drilling programme will simply roll on to the next setof wells offshore China and Mauritania and onshore Angola, thereby ensuringshareholders remain exposed to potentially important drilling results through tothe middle of the year and beyond." In accordance with ASX and AIM Rules, the information in this Release has beenreviewed and approved by Dr John Doran, Chief Executive Officer, Roc Oil CompanyLimited, BSc (Hons) Geology, MSc and PhD. Dr Doran, who is a member of theSociety of Petroleum Engineers, has more than 30 years of relevant experiencewithin the industry and consents to the information in the form and context inwhich it appears. Damian FisherGeneral ManagerExternal Affairs & Investor Relations For further information please contact: Dr John Doran on Tel: +61-2-8356-2000 Fax: +61-2-9380-2635 Email: jdoran@rocoil.com.au Or visit ROC's website: www.rocoil.com.au Dr Kevin Hird General Manager - Business Development Tel: +44 (0)20 7495 5707/+61 (0)2 8356 2000 Mob: +44 (0)7751 3671 49/+61 (0)417 261 727 Email: khird@rocoil.com.au Michael Shaw Oriel Securities Limited (Nominated Adviser) Tel: +44 (0)20 7710 7600 Bobby Morse Buchanan Communications Tel: + 44 (0)20 7466 5000 Fax: + 44 (0)20 7466 5001 E-Mail: bobbym@buchanan.uk.com Mob: +44 (0)7802 875 227 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange