Mauritania Drilling Update

Roc Oil Company Limited
30 August 2005




30 August 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 Ltd:

'Woodside Mauritania Pty Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Woodside Petroleum
Ltd., reports the following active,ties offshore Mauritania since the last
report issued on 23 August 2005.

                    PSC Area A: Sotto-1 ST1 Exploration Well

The 'Stena Tay' drill rig acquired wireline logs on Sotto-1 ST1. No significant
hydrocarbons were encountered in the well, which was plugged and abandoned. The
rig then sailed to the Espadon location.

                     PSC Area B: Espadon-1 Exploration Well

The Espadon-1 well was spudded by the 'Stena Tay' drill rig on 29 August 2005 in
approximately 1675 metres of water. The well has a proposed total depth of
approximately 3,340 metres. At midnight on 29 August, the 181/2 inch diameter
top hole was drilling ahead at 2,000 metres.

                          Chinguetti Development Wells

The 'West Navigator' drillship continues to perform completion work on the
Chinguetti development wells. Woodside does not plan to issue regular
announcements regarding operations on the Chinguetti development wells, but will
do so if necessary to comply with its continuous disclosure obligations under
the ASX Listing Rules.

General

All reported drilling deptsh are referenced to the rig rotary table and all
times are Universal Time (UTC) (Mauritanian time).

The locations of planned exploration wells and the Chinguetti Oil Field are
shown on the attached map*.'

Participating Interests in the Chinguetti Joint Venture and relevant PSC areas
are:

  +-----------------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+
  |              Company              |Chinguetti| PSC-A  | PSC-B  | PSC-C, |
  |                                   |  Joint   |        |        |Block 6 |
  |                                   | Venture  |        |        |        |
  +-----------------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+
  |Woodside group companies (Operator)|47.38448% |53.846% |53.846% |37.578% |
  +-----------------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+
  |Hardman group companies            |19.00800% |24.300% |21.600% |22.422% |
  +-----------------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+
  |Groupe Project Chinguetti          |12.00000% |   --   |   --   |   --   |
  +-----------------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+
  |BG group companies                 |10.23440% |13.084% |11.630% |   --   |
  +-----------------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+
  |Premier group companies            | 8.12328% |   --   | 9.231% |   --   |
  +-----------------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+
  |Roc Oil group companies            | 3.24984% | 4.155% | 3.693% | 5.000% |
  +-----------------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+
  |Fusion group companies             |    --    | 4.615% |   --   |   --   |
  +-----------------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+
  |Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn Bhd |    --    |   --   |   --   |35.000% |
  +-----------------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+

*Map attached to the copy of this release on ROC's website.
(http://www.rocoil.com.au/Pages/ASX_Releases/2005_Releases/August-2005.html)

Michelle Manook                          For further information please contact:
General Manager - Corporate Affairs                             Dr John Doran on
                                                            Tel: [phone]
                                                            Fax: [phone]
                                                     Email: [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]



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