Mauritania Drilling Update

Roc Oil Company Limited
21 December 2004


21 December 2004


                        ROC OIL COMPANY LIMITED ('ROC')
                              STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE

                      MAURITANIA OFFSHORE DRILLING UPDATE


ROC advises that the following release was made earlier today by Woodside
Petroleum Limited:

'Woodside Mauritania Pty Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Woodside Petroleum
Ltd., reports the following activity offshore Mauritania since the last report
issued on 14 December 2004.

                                 PSC-B, Block 4
                    Tiof-5 and Chinguetti Development wells

Tiof-5 Appraisal well
Following the completion of wireline logging operations, the Tiof-5 appraisal
well was plugged and abandoned as planned. On 17 December 2004, the 'Stena Tay'
drill rig moved to the Chinguetti Field to join the 'West Navigator' on the
development drilling program.

Chinguetti Development wells
The 'West Navigator' and the 'Stena Tay' are currently conducting operations on
Chinguetti Development wells. Woodside does not plan to issue announcements
regarding operations on Chinguetti Development wells, but will do so if
necessary in order to comply with its continuous disclosure obligations under
the ASX Listing Rules.

All reported drilling depths are referenced to the rig rotary table and all
times are Universal Time (UTC) (Mauritanian time).

The locations of the Chinguetti Oil Field, the Tiof and Banda discoveries and
exploration wells are shown on the attached map.*

Wells are expected to be drilled in two production sharing contract areas during
the remainder of the 2004/5 campaign.'

Participating Interests in the areas are:

          +-----------------------------------+-----------+----------+
          |              Company              |   PSC-A   |  PSC-B   |
          +-----------------------------------+-----------+----------+
          |Woodside group companies (Operator)|  53.846%  | 53.846%  |
          +-----------------------------------+-----------+----------+
          |Hardman group companies            |   24.3%   |  21.6%   |
          +-----------------------------------+-----------+----------+
          |BG group companies                 |  13.084%  |  11.63%  |
          +-----------------------------------+-----------+----------+
          |Premier group companies            |    --     |  9.231%  |
          +-----------------------------------+-----------+----------+
          |Fusion group companies             |  4. 615%  |    --    |
          +-----------------------------------+-----------+----------+
          |Roc Oil group companies            |  4.155%   |  3.693%  |
          +-----------------------------------+-----------+----------+

*Map attached to the copy of this release on ROC's website
(http://www.rocoil.com.au/Pages/ASX_Releases/December-2004.html)

Bruce Clement                            For further information please contact:
Chief Operating Officer                                            Dr John Doran
                                                            Tel: [phone]
                                                            Fax: [phone]
                                                    E-mail: [e-mail]
                                                         Or visit ROC's website:
                                                               www.rocoil.com.au

                                                                   Dr Kevin Hird
                                            General Manager Business Development
                                                       Tel:  [phone]
                                                       Fax:  [phone]
                                                     Email:  [e-mail]
 
                                                                    Nick Lambert
                                            Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial
                                                       Tel:  [phone]



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