Drilling Report

Soco International PLC
15 October 2001



                            SOCO International plc

                          ('SOCO' or 'the Company')

Upgrade of Mongolia Project After Completion of Successful 2001 Drilling
Programme

SOCO is an international oil and gas exploration and production company,
headquartered in London.  The Company has exploration activities in Vietnam,
Mongolia, Yemen, Thailand and North Korea with production operations in Yemen,
Tunisia and Mongolia.

SOCO announces the conclusion of its four well 2001 drilling programme in
Mongolia.  Successful drilling of the first two wells, the 19-13 and 19-14
wells, was previously announced in the Company's 2001 Interim Report published
in September.  Subsequently both wells have been completed and fracture
stimulated in the Tsagaantsav zone.  Although only portions of the indicated
productive intervals were perforated in each well and tests were restricted by
pump capacity, the wells still tested at initial rates of approximately 350
barrels of oil per day.  These two wells are expected to be put on production
in November after resizing of downhole pumps and completion of production
facilities construction.

The final two wells in the programme, the 21-3 and 21-4 wells, were drilled in
Contract Area 21, approximately 100 kilometres northeast of the Contract Area
19 development.  The 21-3 well, a rank wildcat test, was spudded 24 August and
drilled to a depth of 2100 metres.  The well did not encounter productive
reservoir sands and was abandoned without testing on 5 September.  The 21-4
well, spudded on 11 September, was a 400 metre offset to the SOTAMO 21-2 well
drilled in May 1997.  The 21-4 well drilled to a total depth of 2500 metres
encountering a total of 75 metres of oil shows in a gross interval from 1667
metres to 2020 metres.  The drilling rig was released on 29 September.  The
well is expected to be completed and tested during the latter half of October.

An independent analysis of the  Tamtsag Basin was conducted earlier this year,
based on data gathered prior to this year's drilling results, by the Chinese
National Petroleum Corporation Research Institute, the research arm of the
parent company of both PetroChina and Sinopec, China's largest publicly listed
oil and gas companies, and attributed original oil in place in SOCO's Tamtsag
project to be approximately 1.5 billion barrels.  Chinese recovery factors in
analogous basins range around 30%.  SOCO has commissioned an independent
reservoir engineering firm to update its reserves in Block 19 as a result of
the drilling successes of the past two years.

With the completion of this year's drilling campaign, Huabei Oilfield
Services, the Chinese company providing the drilling services to the Company
in Mongolia and a subsidiary of Petro China, has exercised its right to obtain
a working interest participation, which requires it to fund its pro rata share
of future work progammes in SOCO's Mongolia project.  Through the reduced cost
drilling programme, it has acquired a 10% working interest in Contract Areas
19, 21 and 22.  SOCO retains an 85% interest in the Tamtsag Basin, with
Petrovietnam, the state oil company of Vietnam, holding the remaining 5%
participation.

Sales of crude oil to China National United Oil Corporation, although
constrained by trucking capability, averaged 350 bbls per day during
September.  Trucking capacity will be expanded during October.  The 19-13 and
19-14 wells are expected to be put on regular production in early November.

Ed Story, CEO and President of SOCO, said:

'The 2001 drilling campaign in Mongolia confirmed the value of 3D seismic and
repeated the 75% wildcat success rate of the previous year.  With the drilling
success of a Chinese company just across the border from our project in the
Tamtsag Basin coupled with our success, we expect interest in the project to
grow significantly. '

                                                               15 October 2001

Enquiries:


SOCO International plc                               Tel: [phone]
Ed Story, Chief Executive
Roger Cagle, Chief Financial Officer

College Hill                                         Tel: [phone]
James Henderson
Peter Rigby