Roc Oil Company Limited 23 December 2005 23 December 2005 ROC OIL COMPANY LIMITED ("ROC") STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE MAURITANIA OFFSHORE DRILLING UPDATE ROC advises that the following release was made earlier today by Woodside Petroleum Ltd: "Woodside Petroleum Ltd reports the following activity by its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Woodside Mauritania Pty. Ltd. and WEL Mauritania B.V., offshore Mauritania since the last report issued (by Woodside) on 22 November 2005. PSC Area C, Block 6: Zoule-1 Exploration Well The 'Stena Tay' drill rig is expected to resume exploration drilling for Woodside operated joint ventures in Mauritania next week. The next well to be drilled will be the Zoule-1 exploration well in PSC Area C, Block 6. The well will target a Cretaceous objective and has a planned total depth of approximately 3730 metres. Following Zoule-1, the Dore-1 exploration well will be drilled in PSC Area B to target late Paleogene and early Miocene objectives. Woodside anticipates issuing the next Mauritania Offshore Drilling Update on 3 January 2006 unless it is necessary to issue an earlier release to comply with its continuous disclosure obligations under the ASX Listing Rules. General All reported drilling depths are referenced to the rig rotary table and all times are Universal Time (UTC) (Mauritanian time). The locations of planned exploration wells and the Chinguetti Oil Field are shown on the attached map*." Participating Interests in the Chinguetti Joint Venture and relevant PSC areas are: +------------------------------+-----------+---------+---------+----------+ | Company |Chinguetti | PSC-A | PSC-B | PSC-C, | | | Joint | | | Block 6 | | | Venture | | | | +------------------------------+-----------+---------+---------+----------+ |Woodside group companies | 47.38448% | 53.846% | 53.846% | 37.578% | |(Operator) | | | | | +------------------------------+-----------+---------+---------+----------+ |Hardman group companies | 19.00800% | 24.3% | 21.6% | 22.422% | +------------------------------+-----------+---------+---------+----------+ |Groupe Project Chinguetti | 12.00000% | -- | -- | -- | +------------------------------+-----------+---------+---------+----------+ |BG group companies | 10.23440% | 13.084% | 11.63% | -- | +------------------------------+-----------+---------+---------+----------+ |Premier group companies | 8.12328% | -- | 9.231% | -- | +------------------------------+-----------+---------+---------+----------+ |Roc Oil group companies | 3.24984% | 4.155% | 3.693% | 5.0% | +------------------------------+-----------+---------+---------+----------+ |Fusion group companies | -- | 4. 615% | -- | -- | +------------------------------+-----------+---------+---------+----------+ |Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn| -- | -- | -- | 35.0% | |Bhd | | | | | +------------------------------+-----------+---------+---------+----------+ (*Map attached to copy release on ROC's website: http://www.rocoil.com.au/Pages/ASX_Releases/2005_Releases/December-2005.html Michelle Manook For further information please contact: General Manager - Corporate Affairs 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