Thailand Agreement

Soco International PLC
25 April 2006



                             SOCO International plc
                           ('SOCO' or 'the Company')

                        Thailand Participation Agreement


SOCO is an international oil and gas exploration and production company,
headquartered in London traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of
the FTSE 250 Index. The Company has interests in Vietnam, Yemen, Thailand and
the Republic of Congo with production operations in Yemen.



SOCO announces that its subsidiary, SOCO Exploration (Thailand) Co. Ltd. ('SOCO
Thai'), has signed a Participation Agreement (the 'Agreement') with GFI Oil and
Gas Thailand Inc. ('GFI'), and TOPoil LTD. ('TOPoil') (together the 'Farmee'),
wherein Farmee can earn up to a 60% working interest in the Bualuang field in
the Gulf of Thailand.



A 20% interest can be earned by the Farmee upon the conclusion of a Phase I work
programme wherein the Farmee must conclude a high resolution 100 kilometre 2D
seismic programme and drill one well in the Bualuang Field.  At the election of
Farmee, a further 40% working interest can be earned in the Phase II work
programme.  The Phase II work programme, during which SOCO Thai would fund only
8% of the cost, requires the Farmee to drill up to eight wells, install a
platform and take the project to first oil.



After the end of the Phase II Period, GFI shall be designated the operator of
the project and shall engage an independent reservoir engineer to perform an
analysis of the proven reserves contained in the Bualuang Field.  The Farmee
shall pay SOCO Thai an amount equal to one dollar (US$ 1.00) for each barrel
over ten million four hundred thousand (10,400,000) barrels.



The assignment of interests in the Agreement is subject to approval of the
appropriate regulatory authorities of the Government of Thailand.



Ed Story, chief executive of SOCO, commented, 'This is a transaction that
benefits all the parties involved.  It allows SOCO to focus resources on higher
profile projects in Vietnam and Yemen, but can accelerate the development of our
Thailand project and provide meaningful production as early as the end of 2007.'



                                                                   25 April 2006



ENQUIRIES:


SOCO International plc
Roger Cagle              Deputy Chief Executive and       Tel: [phone]
                         Chief Financial Officer


Pelham Public Relations
James Henderson                                           Tel: [phone]
Alisdair Haythornthwaite                                  Tel: [phone]



Notes to editors:



SOCO holds its interests in Thailand through its wholly owned subsidiary SOCO
Thailand, LLC., which in turn has a 99.93% shareholding in SOCO Thai.  SOCO Thai
holds a 100% working interest in the Bualuang Field (formerly Pornsiri) in the
Gulf of Thailand over which it acquired government approval for a field
development licence in March of this year.



GFI is a subsidiary of GFI Oil and Gas Corporation, a company incorporated in
Alberta, Canada, traded on the Toronto Venture Exchange (symbol 'GFI').




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange