Rights Issue Launch

Roc Oil Company Limited
01 November 2006


1 November 2006

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

                  ROC TO RAISE APPROXIMATELY $219 MILLION VIA A
                        RENOUNCEABLE 3 FOR 8 RIGHTS ISSUE



ROC is pleased to announce a fully underwritten pro-rata renounceable 3 for 8
rights issue ('Rights Issue') of approximately 81 million ordinary shares with
an issue price of $2.70 per share to raise gross proceeds of $219 million.

Shareholders entitled to participate ('Eligible Shareholders') are those with a
registered address in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan,
Switzerland, or Qatar, and certain Qualified Investors in the United Kingdom.
These shareholders will be offered 3 New Shares in the Company for every 8
Existing Shares held on 10 November 2006. Trading of Rights will commence on ASX
on 3 November and end on 20 November. The Rights will not trade on AIM or be
renounceable in the UK.

The $2.70 issue price represents a discount of about 24% to ROC's closing share
price of $3.55 per share on 31 October and a discount of 25% to the weighted
average share price of $3.60 for the preceding month. The New Shares will rank
equally with existing ordinary shares of ROC.

The primary purpose of the Rights Issue is to enable ROC to reduce debt incurred
in relation to the recent acquisition of a 24.5 % operated interest in the Zhao
Dong Block in the Bohai Bay, offshore China. The Rights Issue will also provide
greater financial flexibility for the Company to continue to build shareholder
value.

The Rights Issue is fully underwritten by UBS AG. Oriel Securities Limited and
Commsec will act as co-managers to the Rights Issue.

A Prospectus in relation to the Rights Issue will be lodged with the Australian
Securities and Investments Commission and Australian Stock Exchange today. The
Prospectus will be made available when the securities are offered and Eligible
Shareholders wishing to acquire the securities will need to complete the
application form that will accompany the Prospectus. Acceptances close on 27
November.

Subsequent to the Rights Issue, ROC will have approximately 297.7 million
ordinary shares on issue.

Commenting on the capital raising, ROC's Chief Executive Officer, Dr John Doran,
said:

'ROC has always maintained a consistent attitude towards borrowing - we don't
like it, but we are prepared to wear an appropriate amount of logical debt. When
ROC looked at buying the Zhao Dong assets it was obvious that Apache was never
going to sell for anything other than cash and the only way for ROC to provide
the cash was to arrange a debt facility.

Immediately after the Apache deal was announced in June 2006, people started
enquiring as to when and how we would restructure the 12-month loan facility.
Until yesterday, our response was always the same: we are considering almost
everything and we are committed to nothing.

Today, we committed to a Rights Issue that will substantially reduce the debt to
an optimum level. The Rights Issue is deliberately designed to treat all
Eligible Shareholders fairly and equally. It provides Eligible Shareholders with
an attractively pitched issue price and the opportunity to participate in ROC's
next growth phase - which promises to be every bit as exciting as any we've
experienced in the past.'

Michelle Manook
General Manager Corporate Affairs      For further information please contact:
                                                              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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