ROC places approx 10M shares

24 Jan 2005 07:00

Roc Oil Company Limited24 January 2005 24 January 2005 ROC OIL COMPANY LIMITED ("ROC") STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROC TO PLACE APPROXIMATELY 10 MILLION SHARES TO RAISE US$15 MILLION/A$20 MILLION-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROC is pleased to announce that after the markets had closed in London andAustralia on Friday, 21st January, 2005, it agreed to place 9,900,990 fully paidordinary shares at a price of $2.00 per share. The placement price represents anapproximate 11% premium to the weighted average price of ROC's shares tradedduring the last 10 trading days. The placement will raise US$15 million/A$19.8million from two established institutional investors. The placement, which will be managed by Canaccord Capital (Europe) Limited,ROC's nominated advisor/broker on the UK Alternative Investment Market (AIM), isexpected to be completed on Thursday, 27 January, 2005. The shares to be issuedunder the placement represent about 5.3% of the 185,939,693 enlarged issuedshare capital of the Company. Application has been made to AIM and to theAustralian Stock Exchange for admission to trading of the new shares. Furtherdetails on this share issue are set out in the attached Appendix 3B*. Commenting on the placement, ROC's Chief Executive Officer, Dr John Doran statedthat: The primary purpose of the placement is to allow ROC to fund potential newexploration ventures offshore West Africa without recourse to either theproceeds generated by the sale of the Saltfleetby Gas Field or the funds raisedby the April 2004 Rights Issue. In the event that ROC does not identify appropriate new West Africanopportunities which meet its investment criteria, it is expected that the fundsraised by the placement will be applied to the Company's current Africanportfolio. The placement will substantially increase the number of ROC shares held byinvestors based in Europe and, in this context, ROC's Board of Directors is verypleased to welcome these new shareholders to the Company's share register. *Appendix 3B attached to the copy of this release on ROC's website (http://www.rocoil.com.au/Pages/ASX_Releases/2005_Releases/January-2005.html) Dr John Doran For further information please contact:Chief Executive Officer John Doran on Tel: +61-2-8356-2000 Fax: +61-2-9380-2635 E-mail: 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