Drilling Report

Soco International PLC
16 July 2002



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

                            Vietnam Drilling Update



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



SOCO has completed the first stage of its 2002 Vietnam drilling programme with
the drilling of the Block 16-1 Ngua O well.



The well was drilled to a depth of 3,684 metres, penetrating approximately 520
metres into basement. Mud logging indicated substantial oil shows in both the
upper Miocene and basement sections.  It was determined that the reservoir
characteristics in the upper Miocene were not sufficiently developed to warrant
testing.  A drill stem test ('DST') was conducted in a basement interval of
3,174 metres to 3,563 metres after encountering multiple fracture systems.  The
DST recovered oil at rates of approximately 250 barrels per day over an 18 hour
interval.  The well has been abandoned.  A decision regarding a horizontal or
deviated well to further appraise this prospect will be deferred until after the
data gathered from this first well have been thoroughly analysed.



The rig will be moved immediately to a location on Block 9-2 to spud the initial
well on this Block, the second well in a minimum four well programme.



SOCO currently holds a 15% working interest in Block 16-1, but is carried up to
a maximum amount of US$50 million by PTT Exploration and Production Company
Limited of Thailand through the initial exploration programmes in both Block
16-1 and 9-2 under the terms of a farm-out agreement announced earlier this
year. Both Blocks are contiguous to the Bach Ho (approximately 285,000 BOPD) and
the Rang Dong (approximately 55,000 BOPD) producing fields.



Ed Story, President and Chief Executive of SOCO, commented:



'The results of the first of our four well drilling programme in the Cuu Long
Basin are encouraging, although we would have obviously preferred a definitive
result from the initial well.  The next stage is to decide whether or not a
horizontal appraisal well, which typically dramatically increases flow rates in
this basin, can be justified on this prospect.  However, we believe that the
results from this well have positive implications for the largest prospect
identified on Block 16-1.  There is clearly an active hydrocarbon system on the
Block.  With the data gained from this well, it appears that both the 'source'
and 'seal' risks on the larger prospect are lower than previously projected.'



16 July 2002

Enquiries:


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

College Hill                                         Tel: [phone]
James Henderson





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