Cliff Head Development

RNS Number:6842J
Roc Oil Company Limited
14 March 2005



14 March 2005

                             ROC OIL COMPANY LIMITED
                             STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE

                      JOINT VENTURE COMMITS TO DEVELOP THE
                CLIFF HEAD OIL FIELD, OFFSHORE WESTERN AUSTRALIA


KEY POINT

*   The WA-286-P Joint Venture has taken a Final Investment Decision with
    regard to the Cliff Head Oil Field, offshore Western Australia, which will
    result in the field being developed for production, subject to receipt of
    final Government approvals. First oil is expected to flow within 12 months
    at an initial rate in excess of 10,000 BOPD through facilities with 15,000
    BOPD capacity. Proven and probable field reserves, in the fully appraised
    part of the Cliff Head structure, are currently estimated to be about 14
    MMBO. There is upside reserve potential in areas adjacent to the
    field which are currently undrilled but which will be accessible from the
    production platform. The total development cost is expected to be A$227
    million. Within the context of Australia's offshore oil and gas industry,
    the Cliff Head Development Project represents a number of "firsts",
    including the first oil field to be developed in the offshore Perth Basin.

1. FINAL INVESTMENT DECISION

Roc Oil (WA) Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Roc Oil Company Limited
("ROC"), operator for and on behalf of the WA-286-P Joint Venture (the "Joint
Venture"), is pleased to advise that the Joint Venture has taken a Final
Investment Decision with regard to the development of the Cliff Head Oil Field
in the offshore Perth Basin, Western Australia.

As a result, production is expected to start within 12 months, subject to
receipt of final Government approvals. Initial production rates will be in
excess of 10,000 BOPD through facilities with 15,000 BOPD design capacity.

2. RESERVES AND POTENTIAL

Proved and probable recoverable reserves are estimated to be in the order of 14
MMBO within that part of the field which has been fully appraised. Additional
possible as yet undrilled reserve potential exists in three adjacent areas that
will be accessible from the Cliff Head production platform. Specifically:

*   Previously, the reservoir sand sequence in the northwestern part of the
    Cliff Head structure was mapped as being below the field's oil-water
    contact. Subsequent to the integration of seismic velocity data acquired
    from the drilling of the Cliff Head-5 and Cliff Head-6 wells, the latest
    seismic mapping now suggests that a significant amount of potential
    reservoir in this part of the structure may be above the field's oil-water
    contact.


*   To the east of the field, as currently mapped, there are shallow water
    shoals which have previously prevented the acquisition of seismic data.
    However, because of encouraging results from a current transition zone 2D
    seismic survey in very shallow waters in WA-286-P and the adjacent TP/15, it
    is now proposed that this survey be extended so as to better define the
    potential of the area immediately east of the Cliff Head Oil Field.


*   To the northeast of the field, the current very shallow water transition
    zone 2D seismic survey has also indicated that reserve potential may exist
    up-dip from Mentelle-1, an exploration well, drilled in 2003, which had
    significant residual oil shows in the upper part of the reservoir objective.

3. FIELD DEVELOPMENT

The Cliff Head Oil Field Development Project is expected to cost a total of
approximately A$227 million. There are four main components:

*   Offshore Platform
A small, normally unmanned, offshore platform with seven active wells: five oil
producers and two water injectors. The platform will also have two spare slots
to allow for the drilling of additional wells in the future. The first of the
five oil producing wells, Cliff Head-6, was drilled to Total Depth and cased
last week and, as of today, has been suspended for future production. The
platform will be located in 18 metres of water, 11 km from the coast and 14 km
from an onshore processing plant at Arrowsmith.

*   Pipelines and Umbilicals
Two 14 km 250 mm pipelines, plus umbilicals, will link the platform to the
onshore processing plant. One pipeline will transport oil from the platform to
the plant. The other pipeline will transport produced water from the plant to
the platform for re-injection into the reservoir. The pipelines and umbilicals
will be installed by using directional drilling techniques under the beach.

*   Onshore Processing Plant
A processing plant will be constructed at Arrowsmith on a site formerly occupied
by a lime plant. The Arrowsmith Plant will provide crude oil stabilisation and
separation facilities and also water injection pumping capability. As a result
of a recent exchange of letters of intent, the oil is expected to be trucked
approximately 350 km from the Arrowsmith plant to the BP oil refinery at
Kwinana, south of Perth.

*   Drilling
The drilling of the four remaining producing wells and two water injection wells
represents approximately 30% of the capital cost of the project. All producing
wells will be highly deviated, with three currently planned as horizontal wells.

As a result of a tender process initiated last year, a number of agreements have
been negotiated with several contractors, including Ensco Australia Pty Ltd,
which will supply the Ensco 67 jack-up drilling rig.

Day-to-day management of the construction and installation phase of the Cliff
Head Development Project will be based in ROC's Perth office where a project
team, under the leadership of Mr Duncan Mitchell, was established in 2004 during
the Front End Engineering and Design ("FEED") stage of the project. Mr Mitchell,
with more than 20 years experience in the contracting industry, mainly with
international contractor Kellogg Brown and Root, has been working with ROC on
the Cliff Head Development since early 2004. The drilling and completion
component of the project will be managed out of ROC's Sydney office.

4. SIGNIFICANCE

Cliff Head will be the first field to be developed in the offshore Perth Basin.
In fact, the field will be the first oil field to be developed off the Western
Australian coast south of the Exmouth Sub-basin, some 1,000 km to the north.

The field is also the first oil field to be discovered and developed offshore
Australia by a Joint Venture the majority (71%) of which is owned by junior
Australian oil companies, one of which is the operator.

At the moment there are only four Australian publicly-listed companies that
produce oil - as opposed to gas and/or condensate - offshore Australia: BHP
Billiton Limited Woodside Petroleum Limited, Santos Limited and Tap Oil Limited.
When the Cliff Head development is complete there will be three more Australian
public companies joining this list of offshore oil producers: Australian
Worldwide Exploration Ltd, Voyager Energy Limited and ROC.

5. JOINT VENTURE

The Cliff Head Joint Venture comprises     Equity

    Roc Oil (WA) Pty Ltd (Operator)............................37.5%
    AWE Oil (Western Australia) Pty Ltd .......................27.5%
    Wandoo Petroleum Pty Ltd ..................................24.0%
    Voyager (PB) Limited........................................6.0%
    CIECO Exploration and Production (Australia) Pty Ltd .......5.0%

6. CEO'S COMMENTS

Commenting on the Final Investment Decision for Cliff Head, ROC's Chief
Executive Officer, Dr John Doran, stated:

"Cliff Head has had an interesting couple of months. Initially, capital costs
went up and reserves went down. Then capital costs came down and oil prices went
up. The end result is that the field will be developed because of an unusual
combination of circumstances, not least of which is the general perception that
near and medium term oil prices will not fall much below US$30/BBL for any
significant length of time.

The Cliff Head Oil Field was discovered by ROC's first well in Australia, but we
don't embark on offshore development projects for sentimental reasons; we do it
to make money for shareholders. Fortunately, on a stand-alone basis, the Cliff
Head development, as it is now envisaged, meets the Company's investment
criteria and is expected to provide ROC with a very satisfactory rate of return.

The Cliff Head development will also establish significant onshore and offshore
infrastructure in the region. This may prove to be relevant in the event that
further fields are discovered and developed in and around the Cliff Head Oil
Field and in the adjoining coastal area

Despite its modest size, the development of the Cliff Head Oil Field is an
important landmark for the offshore oil industry in Western Australia and, in
several different ways, for each of the Joint Venture participants.

ROC is able to fund its entire net share of the development costs, approximately
A$85 million, from internal sources, but it will consider prudent alternative
financial arrangements, including project related debt.


Dr John Doran                            For further information please contact:
Chief Executive 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

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