Roc Oil Company Limited 17 January 2006 17 January 2006 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 on 10 January 2006. PSC Area C, Block 6: Zoule-1 Exploration Well Analysis of wireline logs and other data indicated that no significant hydrocarbons were encountered in the Zoule-1 exploration well. The well was plugged and abandoned by the 'Stena Tay' drill rig on 13 January 2006. The rig then moved to the Dore-1 exploration well location in PSC Area B. PSC Area B: Dore-1 Exploration Well The Dore-1 exploration well was spudded on 16 January 2006. The well is located approximately 19 kilometres east of the Tiof oil discovery in a water depth of 387 metres. At midnight the well had reached a depth of 472 metres. Dore-1 has a planned total depth of approximately 2,388 metres. Following the Dore-1 well, the 'Stena Tay' will be released from Mauritania. The 'Atwood Hunter' drill rig has been contracted for drilling campaigns in Mauritania in 2006 and 2007 and is due to arrive in Mauritania in the second quarter of 2006. 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 |47.38448% | 53.846% | 53.846% | 37.578% | |companies (Operator) | | | | | +-----------------------+----------+-----------+---------+-----------+ |Hardman group companies|19.00800% | 24.3% | 21.6% | 22.422% | +-----------------------+----------+-----------+---------+-----------+ |Societe Mauritanienne |12.00000% | -- | -- | -- | |des Hydrocarbures | | | | | |(formerly GPC) | | | | | +-----------------------+----------+-----------+---------+-----------+ |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 | -- | -- | -- | 35.0% | |Overseas Sdn Bhd | | | | | +-----------------------+----------+-----------+---------+-----------+ (*Map attached to copy release on ROC's Website: Michelle Manook For further information please General Manager - Corporate Affairs contact: 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