Disposal

SOCO INTERNATIONAL PLC 14 October 1999 SOCO International plc ('SOCO' or 'the Company') Sale of UK Onshore Assets SOCO is an international oil and gas exploration and production company, headquartered in London with ongoing operations in Mongolia, Yemen, European Russia, Thailand, Tunisia and North Korea and a concession pending government approval in Vietnam. SOCO today announces the disposal of its UK assets. SOCO International plc announces the sale of its wholly owned subsidiary, SOCO UK Onshore Ltd. ('UK Onshore'), through which it holds its interests in various exploration and production licences in the Weald Basin in Southern England. Star Energy Limited has acquired the whole of the share capital of UK Onshore for £10.6 million. The total consideration includes £7.0 million in cash, assumption of £2.1 million of intergroup indebtedness and an additional cash payment of £1.5 million, which is expected to be received by the end of 1999 as a result of settlement of working capital items and the disposal of certain real property held by UK Onshore. The transaction adds further strength to SOCO's debt free balance sheet, bringing its free cash balances to approximately £23 million. Production, net to the Company's working interest, from the Weald Basin averaged approximately 1,380 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) during the first half of 1999, down from a 1998 year average of approximately 1,590 BOPD. Future development plans for certain portions of the Weald Basin had included a gas storage/power generation joint venture project. SOCO expects to more than replace the lost production resulting from this disposal from a combination of an increase in its interest in the East Shabwa Development Area in Yemen and through production gains realised from the Phase II drilling program now underway in Yemen, the total effects of which should add approximately 2,900 BOPD net to the Company's working interest. As at 31 December 1998, UK Onshore had net assets of £8.6 million (£7.5 million adjusted for elimination of intergroup receivables). For the year ended 1998, UK Onshore had a loss before tax of approximately £1.0 million. Since its initial listing in May of 1997, SOCO had indicated that UK Onshore was non-core to the Company as it focused increasingly on international projects offering larger production and reserve potential. Ed Story, Chief Executive of SOCO, said: 'The UK Onshore transaction is a win-win situation for both parties as it provides SOCO additional capital to deploy toward other more lucrative exploitation/development projects abroad and it places the assets with a group who have the expertise to maximise the alternative uses of those assets.' Enquiries: SOCO International plc Tel: 020 7 399 3300 Ed Story, Chief Executive Roger Cagle, Chief Financial Officer College Hill Tel: 020 7 457 2020 James Henderson Archie Berens
UK 100

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