Yemen Operations Update

Soco International PLC
28 February 2006




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



                    OPERATIONS UPDATE ON ACTIVITIES IN YEMEN



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 Company's majority owned subsidiary, Comeco Petroleum, Inc. ('Comeco'),
through which the Company holds a 16.785% net working interest in the East
Shabwa Development Area in Yemen ('ESDA'), announces the completion of a number
of wells on the Kharir and Atuf Fields that will add to current production
capability, as well as exploration activities in the northern part of the Block.



A temporary 10,000 barrels of oil per day self contained production facility is
being added to the current production facility to increase the field's overall
production capacity as other work on debottlenecking and expanding permanent
capacity continues. It is anticipated that the temporary capacity upgrade will
be available at the beginning of March.



APPRAISAL DRILLING



Atuf Field

The three well production enhancement drilling programme on the Atuf Field has
concluded.  All three wells have been completed as producers and are being
connected to the main producing facilities.



Kharir Field

On the Kharir Field, the KHA-1-07.G1 sidetrack well, a sidetrack of the KHA-401
well, encountered good shows. It has been decided to complete the well as a
producer.



Two rigs are currently drilling injection and production wells on the Kharir
field.  This activity is expected to continue throughout 2006.



EXPLORATORY DRILLING



Jathma Area

The second exploration well in the Jathma area, the JAT-02 well, spudded on 8th
December 2005, reached bottom hole on 12th January 2006. Although the well
encountered a significant oil column, the well did not produce on production
test indicating poor fracture development at this location. An evaluation of the
results of the well is being conducted to provide input to a potential 3D
seismic programme in the area.



The third exploration well, JAT-03, spudded on 13th January 2006 on the western
side of the block. The well is taking longer than expected due to upper hole
mechanical difficulties. The well is currently drilling at 3,080 metres.



As previously announced, the first exploration well in the Jathma area, the
JAT-01, was drilled to 3,175 metres measured depth. It tested over 1,900 barrels
of oil per day against a 56/64 inch choke with an API gravity of 35 degrees



                                                                28 February 2006



ENQUIRIES:



SOCO International plc

Roger Cagle, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer

Tel: [phone]



Pelham Public Relations

James Henderson

Alisdair Haythornthwaite

Tel: [phone]



NOTES TO EDITORS



Comeco, in which SOCO holds a 58.75% interest, has a 28.57% interest in the ESDA
in Block 10 in Yemen. The East Shabwa joint venture is operated by TOTAL E & P
Yemen (28.57% interest) under a production sharing agreement with the government
of Yemen. The other joint venture partners are Occidental Yemen Ltd. (28.57%
interest) and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co. (14.29% interest).








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

MSCUBVBRNNRUUAR