Activity Update - Angola

14 Apr 2005 07:01

Roc Oil Company Limited14 April 2005 14 April 2005 ROC OIL COMPANY LIMITED ("ROC") STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE ACTIVITY UPDATE - ANGOLA KEY POINT • ROC is progressing its Angolan activities on several fronts including the establishment of a senior executive team in Luanda and preparations for a substantial onshore seismic survey. 1. Senior Executive Appointments ROC is pleased to announce the following senior executive appointments: • Mr Antonio Vieira has been appointed President of Roc Oil (Cabinda) Company. This is the wholly owned subsidiary through which ROC currently owns the majority of its interest in the Cabinda South Block, onshore Angola. Mr Vieira, an engineer by training with qualifications from Luanda, Lisbon and Texas A & M University, has been with ROC for five years, mainly as the Company's Representative in Africa. Sydney-based Mr Vieira speaks several languages including Portuguese and will spend a significant amount of time in Luanda and Cabinda. • Dr Ken Seymour has been appointed General Manager-Angola. With more than 25 years experience in the international oil industry, Dr Seymour started his career with BP and subsequently spent 19 years with the former Ranger Oil Limited, now CNR International, primarily in Angola. Since he first started working in Angola in 1995, Dr Seymour has held a variety of senior executive positions in that country including Drilling/Country Manager, Operations Manager and General Manager. Dr Seymour is fluent in Portuguese and will be based in Luanda. 2. Seismic Survey As operator of the Cabinda South Joint Venture, ROC is currently in finaldiscussions with regard to a contract to acquire 165sqkm of 3-D and 500km of 2-Dseismic, onshore Cabinda. The imminent seismic survey will be the first phase ofa two phase seismic programme the second part of which will be undertaken in2006. This forward exploration plan is consistent with the Company's previouslyannounced activity schedule which envisages first drilling in late 2006 or 2007. The seismic survey, which will be the first on-the-ground oil explorationactivity to occur onshore Angola for more than 30 years, will be a landmarkevent for ROC. The survey is designed to detail numerous prospects and leadswhich have been identified from the pre-1972 seismic which shows a multiplicityof structuring (eg Attachments 1 - 4*). All existing wells in the Cabinda South Block were drilled prior to 1972 andwere primarily located on a combination of poor quality, single fold seismicdata, surface geology and gravity anomalies. Despite this sparse explorationframework, a number of the wells drilled in the Cabinda South Block encounteredsignificant oil and gas shows and, in some cases, flowed and/or recovered oiland gas to surface. Further details of the geology and perceived prospectivity of the Cabinda SouthBlock are contained in previous public announcements by ROC and can be found onthe Company's website. 3. Portfolio Management ROC continues to progress its previously announced strategy of farming out aminority portion of its equity in the Cabinda South Block. 4. Marburg Virus Considered advice from various sources within Angola, suggests that the recentoutbreak of the Marburg Virus, which has received widespread media coverage invarious parts of the world, is not expected to impact on the Company'soperations in Cabinda. However, for all the obvious Health, Safety andEnvironmental reasons ROC will continue to monitor the situation very closely. *Attachments attached to the copy of this release on ROC's website(http://www.rocoil.com.au/Pages/ASX_Releases/2005_Releases/April-2005.html) Bruce Clement For further information please contact:Chief Operating Officer 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)207 586 7935 Fax: +44 (0)207 722 3919 Email: khird@rocoil.com.au Nick Lambert Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial Tel: +44 (0)207 861 3232 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange