| JUNE 2001- RELEASES |
| ACTIVITY UPDATE (28-06-01) |
| SUMMARYMARY
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COURBINE-1A, EXPLORATION WELL, OFFSHORE MAURITANIA, UNDER-REAMING AHEAD
OF INTERMEDIATE LOGGING;
1.1 Courbine-1A: Area B, Offshore Mauritania (ROC: 2.4% free carried)
On 27 June 2001 the operator, Woodside Petroleum Ltd, reported that the
Courbine-1A well has drilled to a depth of 3,195 metres in 12¼
inch hole. The forward programme is to complete under-reaming the hole
to 17½ inch prior to evaluating the interval with wireline logs
and drilling to the programmed total depth of 4,000 metres. 2.1 Chestnut Oil Field, UK North Sea (ROC: 14.875% carried) The 22/2a-11x well was completed on 23 June 2001 and the rig was released on 24 June 2001. The planned EWT is due to commence in late July/early August 2001 utilising the Brovig vessel, Crystal Ocean. 3. DEVELOPMENT DRILLING 3.1 Kyle Oil Field, UK North Sea (ROC: 12.5%)
The third development well for the Kyle Oil Field, 29/2c-14, started drilling
on 24 June 2001. As of 27 June 2001, the 30 inch surface conductor had
been run to a depth of 164 meters and cemented. 4.1 Block 20/3a, UK North Sea (ROC: 6.38899%) Through a pre-emptive rights mechanism, ROC's wholly owned subsidiary, Roc Oil (UK) Limited, has increased its ownership of licence P273, Block 20/3a, by 2.23%, from 4.17% to 6.39%. The balance of the available interest was taken up by PanCanadian Petroleum (UK) Limited and Petrobras U.K. Limited. The Block contains part of the Ettrick Oil Field so that, as a result of the pre-emption, ROC's interest in the Ettrick Field has increased by 0.56% from 11.75% to 12.31%. The consideration for the additional interest was less than US$100,000 cash. 5. FARMOUT
5.1 East Gobi Basin, Mongolia (ROC: 50%, post-farmout) Dongsheng will earn its 50% interest by funding 100% of the cost of two deep exploration wells. The wells will be drilled to a minimum depth of 2,000m each and will target previously untested "deep" plays with which Dongsheng is familiar as a result of its experience developing China's second largest oil field, Shengli. In the event of a commercial success in either of the two wells, a third well will be drilled jointly by ROC and Dongsheng. Dongsheng is evaluating opportunities to drill the first well during the current summer drilling season in Mongolia. In the event this timing may not be possible due to logistical constraints, both ROC and Dongsheng fully expect that both wells will be drilled before the end of the 2002 Mongolian summer drilling season. During this period of exploration activity, the test production from the Zuunbayan and Tsagaan Els fields will be suspended but the Zuunbayan base camp will be maintained for possible future production. Also, as part of its consolidation of interests in Mongolia, ROC has also negotiated a two year renewal of the 97 PSC (effective June 2001) and withdrawn from its PSC's over portions of the Tsagaan Els Block XIII and Zuunbayan Block XIV not covered by the 97 PSC, as well as Blocks X (North) and XV, East Gobi Basin. Commenting on the farmout, Dr Kevin Hird, ROC's General Manager - New Business, stated:- "The farmout is totally consistent with ROC's previous public statements about it's future strategy in Mongolia. This positive outcome of the complex farmin negotiations will bring a new direction to ROC's exploration activities in Mongolia. The plays being pursued are well known to Dongsheng, but they have not been tested in the East Gobi Basin."
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| GULFSTREAM OFFER UPDATE (26-06-01) |
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NEWS RELEASE ROC TO ALLOW ITS OFFER FOR 40% OF GULFSTREAM TO EXPIRE The following news item will be released in Calgary later today in response to the announcement earlier today that Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corporation ("Anadarko") has made a cash bid for 100% of Gulfstream Resources Canada Limited ("Gulfstream"). Anadarko, with a market capitalisation equivalent to approximately A$27 billion, is offering C$2.65 cash for each Gulfstream share which represents a 62% premium over Gulfstream's average 30 day closing price and a 140% premium over ROC's current unsolicited offer for 40% of Gulfstream. The total value of Anadarko's offer is approximately A$260 million. QUOTE CALGARY, June 25, 2001 - Roc Oil Company Limited (ASX:ROC) ("ROC") today announced that it will not extend or amend its offer for common shares of Gulfstream Resources Canada Limited (TSE:GUR) ("Gulfstream") and that it will allow its extended offer to expire on Tuesday, July 10, 2001, at 6:00 p.m. Calgary time. Dr. John Doran, ROC's CEO, stated: "We really meant it when we said that if a higher bidder came along we would wish it well. In these circumstances, we are pleased for Gulfstream shareholders and are happy to congratulate Anadarko. You always hope that something good will come out of these things and ROC has probably acted as a catalyst to enable Gulfstream shareholders to crystallize value far in excess of what was available to them prior to ROC announcing its offer. In a risk-reward context, we equate it to drilling a dry hole - although more value has been created, the cost was a lot less and the process was a whole lot more enjoyable. ROC will continue looking at new and existing projects for its next, sensibly contrary, value opportunity." ROC is an Australian-based energy company with interests in the United Kingdom, Australia, West Africa and selected parts of Asia. The Company has a diverse shareholder base with key shareholders located in Australia, North America, the UK, Asia and the Middle East. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2000, ROC reported cash flow of C$43 million on gross sales revenue of C$70 million and year-end assets of C$229 million. As of March 31, 2001, ROC reported a cash position of C$54 million, a record quarterly revenue of C$20 million and a record net unaudited after tax operating profit of almost C$6 million. UNQUOTE Contact: Roc Oil
Company Limited
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| GULFSTREAM OFFER UPDATE (20-06-01) |
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NEWS RELEASE ROC EXTENDS OFFER FOR GULFSTREAM Offer extended to 6:00 p.m. (Calgary time) on July 10, 2001
Commenting upon the extension of the offer, Dr. John Doran, ROC's CEO, stated: "After more than 75 days and three extensions of the Offer there is not much more that can be said that hasn't already been stated. The time has surely come for Gulfstream to commence some form of positive action." ROC is an Australian-based energy company with interests in the United Kingdom, Australia, West Africa and selected parts of Asia. The Company has a diverse shareholder base with key shareholders located in Australia, North America, the UK, Asia and the Middle East. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2000, ROC reported cash flow of C$43 million on gross sales revenue of C$70 million and year-end assets of C$229 million. As of March 31, 2001, ROC reported a cash position of C$54 million, a record quarterly revenue of C$20 million and a record net unaudited after tax operating profit of almost C$6 million.
Roc Oil
Company Limited
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| ACTIVITY UPDATE (20-06-01) |
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SUMMARY ·
Chestnut Oil Field flows more than 10,000 BOPD
1.1 Courbine-1A: Area B, Offshore Mauritania (ROC: 2.4% free carried) On 19 June 2001, the operator, Woodside Petroleum Ltd, reported that the Courbine-1A well was drilled to a depth of 2,900 metres in 17½ inch hole where drilling problems were encountered. The forward program is currently being evaluated. All reported depths are referenced to the rig rotary table. 2. APPRAISAL DRILLING 2.1 Chestnut Oil Field, UK North Sea (ROC: 14.875% carried) On 19 June 2001, the 22/2a-11x well tested at rates in excess of 10,000 BOPD for 12 hours on clean-upflow from the horizontal completion within the targeted Eocene, Nauchlan sands. The planned extended well test is due to commence in late July/early August 2001 utilising the Brovig, vessel Crystal Ocean. 3. APPRAISAL/DEVELOPMENT DRILLING 3.1 Kyle Oil Field, UK North Sea (ROC: 12.5%) The third development well planned for the Kyle Oil Field is expected to spud on 22 June 2001. This well is planned as a horizontal completion within the Palaeocene sands overlying the fractured chalk and is targeted at the south-west sector of the Field which contains the first development well 29/2c-12z. Dr
John Doran |
| SHAREHOLDER'S UPDATE (13-06-01) |
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SHAREHOLDER'S UPDATE Under separate cover, ROC is sending out a hard copy of one of its regular Shareholders' Update to all of the Company's more than 6,000 shareholders in accordance with the Company's practice of maintaining a maximum level of direct communication with its shareholders. Most of this Shareholders' Update is based upon information already released by ROC to ASX including the Company's Report to the ASX on Activities for the Quarter ended 31 March 2001 released on 30 April 2001 and subsequent releases to early June. Dr
John Doran |
| ACTIVITY UPDATE (07-06-01) |
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· ROC exercises option to acquire interest in 18 million acres Offshore Mauritania · Courbine-1 exploration wildcat commences drilling Offshore Mauritania · Second oil discovery announced on trend to the south of ROC's Rio Muni Basin acreage, Offshore Equatorial Guinea · Chestnut Oil Field appraisal well in the UK North Sea prepares for extended well test ·
Preparations underway for third well at the Kyle Oil Field in the UK North
Sea
1. ROC ACQUIRES INTERESTS OFFSHORE MAURITANIA ROC is pleased to advise that it has exercised its option to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of the privately-owned Elixir Corporation Pty Limited ("Elixir") in accordance with the Option Agreement, dated 12 April 2000 (the "Agreement"), between ROC and all the shareholders of Elixir. Details of the Agreement were released to ASX on 14 April 2000 and have been referred to in several subsequent ROC ASX releases, including those dated 20 April 2001 and 17 May 2001. The exercise price of the option has been calculated in accordance with the formula contained in the Agreement. As a result, Elixir shareholders collectively received A$3.7 million cash and 2.5 million new, fully paid, ROC ordinary fully paid shares issued at $1.44/share, being the weighted average price of ROC ordinary shares for the thirty trading days prior to the exercise of the option. As a result of this issue of new shares, ROC issued capital increased by 2.36% to 108.5 million ordinary fully paid shares. Elixir has only one asset: its 2.0% to 2.7% interest in petroleum exploration permits which cover approximately 18 million acres/73,000 sq. km, mainly deep water, offshore Mauritania (Attachment 1) Elixir's Board of Directors has been restructured. It now consists of four Board members. ·
Dr John Doran, ROC's Chief Executive Officer, has been appointed Chairman
of Elixir.
Commenting on the exercise of the option, ROC's CEO, Dr John Doran, stated that: "Under the terms of our Agreement with Elixir's shareholders, ROC could have waited another twenty-two months before exercising its option, although the exercise price would have increased substantially in April 2002. However, after reviewing the results of the Chinguetti-1 discovery, we concluded that even if the currently drilling exploration well, Courbine-1, is bone-dry, there is no way that ROC would choose not to exercise its option and walk away from this newly identified petroleum province. Once we came to this conclusion, we thought it was in the best interests of all ROC shareholders to exercise the option in a timely manner. ROC looks forward to working even more closely with the various joint venture groupings with which Elixir is associated offshore Mauritania and with the relevant Government authorities in Mauritania."
2.1 Courbine-1: Area B, Offshore Mauritania (ROC: 2.4% free carried) On 5 June 2001, the operator, Woodside Petroleum Ltd, reported that the Courbine-1 wildcat exploration well, which commenced drilling on 29 May 2001, was experiencing difficulties setting the 20 inch casing. Subsequent public releases by other joint venturers have indicated that, due to the difficulties encountered in the shallow hole section, the forward plan is to reposition the rig and commence a re-drill of Courbine-1. The well has a planned total depth of 4,000 metres and is located in approximately 1,226 metres of water, 16 km northwest of the recent Chinguetti-1 oil discovery. The primary target is a sequence of Upper Cretaceous sandstones which are older than the oil-bearing sands encountered at Chinguetti-1.
Processing of the data from the ROC-managed 1,402 sq km Risa 3D Seismic Survey continues in London. First pass interpretation is expected to be completed prior to year end. ROC's blocks are located approximately 80 km to the north along broad geological trend from the Okume Oil Field, the discovery of which was announced earlier this week by Dallas-based Triton Energy Limited ("Triton") (Attachment 2). This discovery is the second significant oil discovery in the Rio Muni Basin in less than two years. The first discovery in the basin, Triton's Ceiba Field, with reported recoverable reserves in the order of several hundred million barrels, is currently producing approximately 45,000 BOPD after being brought on to production within 15 months of discovery. Initial interpretation of seismic within ROC's acreage indicates that there are structural and stratigraphic leads which appear to be analogous to other play types that have been successfully tested elsewhere along Africa's Atlantic margin, including at the Ceiba Field.
3.1 Chestnut Oil Field: UK North Sea (ROC: 14.875% carried) The 22/2A-11x appraisal well in the Chestnut Oil Field has reached a total depth of approximately 3,760 metres and a 7 inch perforated liner has been set, in preparation for conducting an Extended Well Test ("EWT"). The EWT, which is expected to commence during late July/ August 2001, will test the productivity of the 168 metres of high quality net reservoir sand encountered by the near-horizontal well.
4.1
Kyle Oil Field: UK North Sea (ROC:12.5%) Preparations
are underway for the drilling of a third well on the Kyle Oil Field, which
is currently averaging about 20,000 BOPD (net ROC: 2,500 BOPD) from two
producing wells. The next well is expected to start drilling prior to
the end of June. Dr
John Doran |
| GULFSTREAM OFFER UPDATE (06-06-01) |
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NEWS RELEASE ROC EXTENDS OFFER FOR GULFSTREAM- BUT CAUTIONS THAT THE OFFER MAY BE WITHDRAWN AT ANY TIME AT THE COMPANY'S SOLE DISCRETION The following news release will be distributed to media outlets in Calgary on Thursday 7 June 2001.
ROC EXTENDS OFFER FOR GULFSTREAM Offer extended to 6:00 p.m. (Calgary time) on June 19, 2001 CALGARY, June 6, 2001 - Roc Oil Company Limited (ASX:ROC) ("ROC") today announced that, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Roc Oil (Middle East) Pty Limited, it has extended the expiry time of its offer to purchase 25,750,000 common shares (40%) of Gulfstream Resources Canada Limited (TSE:GUR) ("Gulfstream") for $1.10 per share to 6:00 p.m. (Calgary time) on June 19, 2001, unless withdrawn or further extended. A notice of extension will be mailed to the Gulfstream shareholders shortly. Commenting upon the extension of the offer, Dr. John Doran, ROC's CEO, stated: "After almost ten weeks Gulfstream has still not come up with any alternative to ROC's offer. If the lengthy data room process, which Gulfstream advised was due to finish this week, doesn't turn up a higher offer, Gulfstream directors will have some explaining to do. ROC's review of public data suggests that, as each week passes, Gulfstream's financial standing deteriorates and the much talked about upside potential diminishes. ROC has gone on record to the effect that it is prepared to consider alternative co-operative strategies in relation to Gulfstream including the possibility of injecting fresh capital directly into the company, subject to reviewing information in the data room. Despite this, ROC's specific requests to access the data room and its attempts to establish a dialogue with Gulfstream have been rejected. The way Gulfstream is heading, it may become a classic illustration of how quickly perceptions can change. In Gulfstream's case, this change would seem to be quite dramatic. Information placed in the public domain by Gulfstream, prior to commencement of ROC's offer, creates a perception of corporate well-being which is very different to the perception which has emerged as a result of ROC's offer. For example: · Page 13 of Gulfstream's Annual Report for 2000, published in February 2001, refers to the company's rights to market gas from Qatar's North Field which lapsed in July 2000 and states that "We continue to believe that a resolution is achievable and expect this will be clarified in the coming year." This optimistic perception had changed markedly by April 2001, when Gulfstream's independent petroleum engineers, Sproule International Limited, reviewed the company's assets and made no mention of the North Field nor of any expectation that Gulfstream would recapture the rights to market that gas. · Also on page 13 of Gulfstream's 2000 Annual Report there is a reference to 130.3 million barrels of gross probable oil reserves in Block 11 in Qatar. This perception that significant recoverable reserves existed in Block 11 had undergone a drastic change less than three months later when these reserves were not deemed worthy of any comment by Gulfstream's independent petroleum engineers in their report published in April 2001. · The statement in Gulfstream's Management Proxy Circular dated February 14, 2001 to the effect that the key executives' unspecified termination bonuses are only payable in the event of a "change in control" (as defined in their employment agreements) is another perception which now stands in stark contrast to the reality that has now been brought to bear on this issue as a result of ROC's offer. Not only is the magnitude of these bonuses well beyond normal acceptable industry standards (i.e. approximately C$7 million to the two key directors of the company), but they are also payable upon resignation - not just termination - in the event that a third party acquires a mere 15% interest in Gulfstream, a level which would not be defined in most corporate dictionaries as representing a "change in control". Not only is there a large gap between perception and reality at Gulfstream but there is also a large data void. For example, on April 19, 2001, Gulfstream started drilling a well in Oman. Eight weeks later, that is still the only publicly available information relating to the well which is, presumably, at least of passing relevance to Gulfstream's shareholders. ROC's decision to extend the offer period was neither automatic nor routine. ROC believes that, with the passage of time, the value of Gulfstream is crumbling. Since it announced its offer, ROC has seen its first significant North Sea oil field come into production and it has also been associated with a rank wildcat exploration discovery in deep waters offshore Mauritania. This latter success has identified a brand new petroleum province in an area where ROC has an option to acquire a small equity in the discovery and the 18 million surrounding acres. The combination of these events, ROC's perception of Gulfstream's diminishing value and the attitude of Gulfstream's Board, provides ROC with ample cause to continually review whether or not it should terminate its offer. In this context, all relevant parties should be aware that, as long as the conditions attached to ROC's offer remain outstanding, the Company may choose to exercise its discretion and terminate its offer at any time prior to the end of this most recent extension period or during any subsequent extension period if such is granted. If Gulfstream secures a higher offer, ROC will not now be able to consider competitively increasing its offer because it has been denied access to the data room. In such circumstances, we would wish the acquiring party the best of luck and get on with the rest of our business. If Gulfstream does not secure a higher offer and ROC terminates its offer, then, in ROC's opinion, Gulfstream shareholders will have been grossly disadvantaged by their directors' attitude, and both the company and its directors will be heading off into an interesting and solitary future." ROC is an Australian-based energy company with interests in the United Kingdom, Australia, West Africa and selected parts of Asia. ROC has a diverse shareholder base with key shareholders located in Australia, North America, the UK, Asia and the Middle East. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2000, ROC reported cash flow of C$43 million on gross sales revenue of C$70 million and year-end assets of C$229 million. As of March 31, 2001, ROC reported a cash position of C$54 million, a record quarterly revenue of C$20 million and a record net unaudited after tax operating profit of almost C$6 million. UNQUOTE Contact: Roc Oil
Company Limited
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