Vietnam Oil Discovery

Soco International PLC
05 November 2002

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

                     SOCO Announces Third Vietnam Discovery


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, and partners
announce a discovery on the 16-1-Voi Trang-1X vertical exploration well, the
second exploration test well drilled on Block 16-1 by the Hoang Long Joint
Operating Company. The well tested a maximum sustained rate of approximately
3,500 barrels of crude oil per day ('BOPD') from a section that included both
Oligocene and Basement intervals.  The high quality 42degrees API crude was
recovered from a bottomhole test conducted on an interval from 2,086 metres to
2,490 metres.  From information gathered from a production logging tool, the oil
appears to be sourced primarily from the Oligocene section.



The rig is scheduled to be moved off this well later this week enroute to spud
the second well on Block 9-2 and the first well on the 'C' prospect.  The 'C'
prospect, the largest prospect on Block 9-2, will be the final well in the
planned four well exploration drilling programme.



With this well, SOCO Vietnam has its third consecutive discovery and second
consecutive significant test flow rate.  The first exploration well on Block
9-2, drilled just prior to this well, tested at a maximum sustained daily rate
of approximately 4,625 barrels of crude oil equivalent from two intervals as was
announced in October.  As was announced in July, the first exploration discovery
well in the Vietnam drilling programme was drilled on Block 16-1 and tested
approximately 250 BOPD from a Basement interval.



SOCO Vietnam has previously announced an increase in its interest in Block 16-1
from 15% to 28.5% subject to Vietnam governmental approval. It also holds a 25%
working interest in Block 9-2.  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 field, which is producing approximately 250,000 BOPD and 150 million
cubic feet of gas per day, and the Rang Dong field, where it was recently
announced that production had increased to approximately 65,000 BOPD.



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



'We are very excited about this discovery on Block 16-1. With the discovery on
Block 9-2 already establishing the Cuu Long Basin as a core commercial area for
the Company, this well gives a new dimension to the play types, which further
solidifies Vietnam as a premier cornerstone of SOCO's portfolio.'



                                                                 5 November 2002

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

College Hill                                          Tel: [phone]
James Henderson





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