Vietnam Drilling Update

Soco International PLC
15 February 2006

                             SOCO International plc

                           ('SOCO' or 'the Company')



                            Vietnam Drilling Update



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 continuing interests in Vietnam, Yemen,
Thailand and the Republic of Congo with ongoing production operations in Yemen.



The Te Giac Trang appraisal well (TGT-2X) on Block 16-1 in the Cuu Long Basin
offshore Vietnam reached a total measured depth of 3,436 metres.  The well is
currently being logged prior to testing.  Initial indications from a preliminary
log interpretation suggest that there may be multiple zones of interest.



The well spudded on 18 January as an up dip follow-up well to last year's TGT-1X
discovery well that tested from a single Miocene interval at a combined maximum
rate of 9,432 barrels of oil equivalent per day comprised of 8,566 barrels of
oil per day of 37 degree API gravity crude and approximately 4.86 million cubic
feet of gas per day through a 80/64 inch choke size.



The Hoang Long Joint Operating Company, which is the operator of Block 16-1,
anticipates that testing will take several weeks.







                                                                15 February 2006



ENQUIRIES:


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


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



Notes to editors:



SOCO holds its interests in Vietnam, all in the Cuu Long Basin offshore, through
its 80% owned subsidiary SOCO Vietnam Limited ('SOCO Vietnam').  SOCO Vietnam
holds a 25% working interest in Block 9-2, which is operated by the Hoan Vu
Joint Operating Company and a 28.5% working interest in Block 16-1, which is
operated by the Hoang Long Joint Operating Company.




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