1. Block 22/12, Beibu Gulf, Offshore China (ROC: 40%
& Operator)
Roc Oil (China)
Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of ROC, advises that as at noon (local
time) on 12 February 2008, the Premium "Murmanskaya" jack-up
rig commenced drilling the Wei 6-12E-1 exploration well, on a
stratigraphic-structural prospect approximately 1.7 kilometres east of the
Wei 6-12S-1 oil discovery.
As at 0600 (local
time) on 13 February 2008 the current operation was drilling 171/2"
hole to 277 mBRT.
Wei 6-12E-1, the
second of the planned three well exploration/appraisal drilling programme in
Block 22/12, is expected to reach a Total Depth of approximately 2,520 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
of up 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 at 1830 hours
(local time) on 12 February 2008, the Premium "WilCraft"
jack-up drilling rig commenced drilling the Frankland-2 appraisal well in
WA-286-P, in the North Perth Basin, offshore Western Australia.
As at 0600 hours
(local time) on 13 February 2008 the current operation was running 20"
casing to 119 mBRT.
Frankland-2, an
appraisal well approximately one kilometre northeast of the 2007 Frankland-1
gas discovery, is the second of the planned two well exploration/appraisal
programme in the region. Frankland-2 is scheduled to reach a proposed Total
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 to advise
the imminent commencement of a two well exploration/appraisal drilling
programme 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 a planned Total
Depth of approximately 4,320 mBRT during March 2008. The Khop-1 well will
test the dominant structural feature in Block C6, a four way dip structure 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 mean
recoverable oil reserve estimates range from more than 100 MMBO to more than
1,000 MMBO.
The second well
in the two well programme, located in PSC Area B, will appraise the 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 Executive Officer, John
Doran stated that:
"ROC is
going through a period of record exploration and appraisal drilling activity.
Four wells in four countries simultaneously testing targets in shallow water
offshore China and Western Australia, deepwater offshore Mauritania and
onshore Angola. The perceived risks range from high frontier exploration to
lower risk appraisal while the size of the individual features being tested
ranges up to hundreds of millions of barrels of recoverable oil. Three of the
four wells are operated by ROC, the exception being the well in Mauritania.
When these four wells are finished and regardless of their results, ROC's
2008 exploration and appraisal drilling programme will simply roll on to the
next set of wells offshore China and Mauritania and onshore Angola, thereby
ensuring shareholders remain exposed to potentially important drilling
results through to the middle of the year and beyond."