Drilling Report

Soco International PLC
29 September 2003

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

Vietnam Drilling Programme Ended for the Year/ Significant Basement Discovery in
                                     Yemen


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 which holds a
25% working interest in Block 9-2 and a 28.5% interest in Block 16-1 in the Cuu
Long Basin offshore Vietnam, and partners have concluded the drilling of the Ca
Ngu Vang-2XST ('CNV-2XST'), a horizontal sidetrack to the vertical appraisal
well CNV-2X, on Block 9-2 offshore Vietnam in the Cuu Long Basin.  Both wells
were follow up wells to the CNV-1X discovery well announced in September 2002.



Kicked off from the CNV-2X appraisal well, the CNV-2XST well extended 2,200
metres northeast toward the Rang Dong producing field in the opposite direction
from the original CNV-1X discovery well. Oil shows were encountered throughout
the Basement section over a total measured depth interval in excess of 1,400
metres.  This well extends the known area of oil in the CNV structure to
approximately four kilometres from the original discovery well.  However, like
the appraisal well, this well did not naturally flow when put on barefoot test.
There was no evidence of formation water in the CNV-2XST well.



The results of this well underscore the need to reprocess existing seismic in
order to better delineate the major fracture zones necessary to achieving
significant flow rates from the wells.  Partners are now developing an
appropriate work programme to prepare for the next drilling campaign.  SOCO's
current expectations are that plans to test both the COD structure and the CNV
structure during the second quarter of 2004 will be developed based on
interpretation of the reprocessed data. Accordingly, the rig which has been used
to drill all of SOCO Vietnam's wells in the Cuu Long Basin thus far has been
released.



Elsewhere, in Yemen where SOCO holds a 16.785% interest in the East Shabwa
Development Area on Block 10 ('ESDA') with partners Total (Operator), Occidental
and Kufpec, the KHA 105 Basement well, a shut-in second quarter discovery, was
put on production in September after installation of the proper facilities.  To
date production has increased from the clean-up period to greater than 7,000
barrels of oil per day ('BOPD').



The well was drilled five kilometres west of the previously announced Kharir 210
well that is currently flowing at 1,800 BOPD with no water.  These two Basement
discoveries could signal a significant new phase in the exploitation of the
ESDA.



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



'We are confident that a significant successful outcome in Vietnam is not at
question, but the timing of that outcome is.  We knew that interpretation of the
initial seismic processing was based on limited information and was not
providing a desired level of accuracy from the results on the COD well, but
thought that with the early success on CNV we could overcome this to potentially
fast track commerciality prior to completing the multiple reprocessing
iterations that are typical in this region. We do not intend to continue to look
for fractures with the drill bit before we have gained confidence in the
seismic.



While the Vietnam project reloads for further drilling next year, we are pleased
with the successes achieved in other areas of the Company's portfolio, including
the significant basement discovery in Yemen as well as exploration successes in
Tunisia and Mongolia reported in our interim release, and we expect to progress
other important initiatives before this year is over.'



                                                               29 September 2003


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

College Hill                                         Tel: [phone]
James Henderson





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