Drilling Report

Soco International PLC
14 October 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, and Thailand with production operations in Yemen, Tunisia and
Mongolia.



SOCO Vietnam Limited ('SOCO Vietnam'), SOCO's 80% owned subsidiary, has
concluded the testing of the Ca Ngu Vang-1X ('CNV-1X') vertical exploration
well, the first well on Block 9-2.  The final Basement flow test, impeded by a
collapsed section at the top of the Basement interval, yielded a maximum
combined rate of approximately 4,500 barrels of crude oil equivalent per day
comprised of approximately 3,100 barrels of crude per day and approximately 7.9
million cubic feet of gas per day.



Although the well was designed as a pure Basement exploration test, a minimal
test without stimulation was conducted to test an oil bearing section in the
lower Miocene after plugging back from the Basement interval.  The test
recovered a calculated rate of approximately 125 barrels of oil per day.



After release from the 9-2 prospect, the rig spudded  the 'A' prospect on Block
16-1, the second well on the Block and the third well in the drilling programme,
on 12 October.  The 'C' prospect, the largest prospect on Block 9-2, will be
drilled as the fourth well in the four well drilling programme.



SOCO Vietnam currently holds a 25% working interest in Block 9-2 and has
recently announced an increase in its interest in Block 16-1 from 15% to 28.5%
subject to Vietnam governmental approval.  SOCO Vietnam's interest in Block 9-2
and its initial interest in Block 16-1 is carried up to a maximum amount of
US$50 million through the initial exploration drilling programme under the terms
of a farm-out agreement announced earlier this year. Both Blocks are contiguous
to the Bach Ho (approximately 250,000 BOPD and 150 million cubic feet of gas per
day) and the Rang Dong (approximately 55,000 BOPD) producing fields.



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



'We are extremely pleased with the results in the Vietnam drilling programme to
date and excited about the potential of the remaining prospects.  With reserve
expectations of circa 250 million barrels from the first prospect drilled on
Block 9-2, the Company's unqualified success in establishing Vietnam as a core
area is assured.'



                                                                 14 October 2002

Enquiries:


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

College Hill                                         Tel: [phone]
James Henderson






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