Mauritania Offshore Drilling

Roc Oil Company Limited
18 January 2005


18 January 2005


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 11 January 2005.

                                 PSC-B, Block 4
                    Tiof-6 and Chinguetti Development wells

Tiof-6 appraisal well

The 'West Navigator' drill ship completed the acquisition of wireline logs on
the Tiof-6 appraisal well.

Preliminary interpretation of logs acquired while drilling and wireline logging
operations, including fluid sampling and downhole pressure measurements,
indicate the well has intersected oil over a gross interval of approximately 124
metres.

The Tiof-6 appraisal well was suspended as planned on 17 January 2005. It is
planned that the well will be production tested at a later stage.

On 17 January 2005, the 'West Navigator' returned to the Chinguetti Field to
join the 'Stena Tay' on the development drilling program.

Chinguetti development wells

The 'Stena Tay' drill rig continued 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 2005 campaign. Participating Interests in those 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%  |
        +--------------------------------------+-----------+----------+


                                         For further information please
Dr John Doran                            contact:
Chief Executive Officer                  Dr John Doran on
                                         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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