Right I havent beleived in investing directly in an oil company untill today and in the last few months have been investing in OIL SERVICE companys Hamworthy and Corac, you know the picks and shovels tale.

Anyway after doing a lot of research I really feel that SOCO INTERNATIONAL SIA as been left behind in the mass bull market on oil companies.

Forget, Burren, Regal, Dana and the rest in my opinion this is the one to be on.

So.....why buy Soco now?

Four inter-related reasons:

1) Newsflow is now very much in sight on several fronts. None of it has yet emerged though, so analysts have yet to revisit their old views and recommendations. There was, and indeed remains, a chance to get in before serious interest picks up again.

2) There is, IMO, a decent chance of some very large price rises within the next 6 months, accompanied by increased downside protection. Once newsflow starts, the shares will come back onto institutional radar screens - you can wait for it to emerge, or you can speculate now at what I think will prove to be a lower price -perhaps much lower!

3) The market thinks there is nothing happening and has gone to sleep on the prospects. You can see this in the broadly sideways drift and very low volumes on most days [until this week]. They are wrong. Yemen and perhaps Mongolia should provide some near-term good news.

4) The time to buy is when no-one else seems very interested.

And heres the last results from the company......................

Soco International PLC
02 September 2004

SOCO International plc

Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2004

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 today announces interim results for the half year ended 30 June
2004.

HIGHLIGHTS

Operating profit of 4.1 million (2003: 4.2 million)

Net profit of 2.0 million (2003: 2.5 million)

Earnings per share of 2.9p (2003: 3.6p)

Cash balance of 26.7 million at half year end

Finalised the sale of an interest in ODEX creating a consortium of SOCO
(34%), Oilinvest (46%) and Gazprombank (20%) in the special purpose
entity to progress initiatives in Libya and other countries

Continued reinterpretation of existing 3D seismic and acquisition of 650
sq km of new 3D seismic in Vietnam prior to commencement of drilling in
Q1 2005

3D seismic programme completed in Mongolia with two wells drilled, both
apparent discoveries, and a third well spudded

First ever deviated Basement well drilling in East Shabwa in Yemen



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

'Following an extended period of quiet preparation, the release of interim
results coincides with the commencement of a very active drilling programme for
SOCO, one that I believe has company transforming potential'

2 September 2004

ENQUIRIES:
SOCO International plc Tel: 020 7457 2020 (today)ENDS.

This could really be a craking stock and is worth getting in at these lowly price figures.

Please DYOR

cheers GF.

A few other snippets:

http://www.thisismoney.com/news/columnists/article.html?in_article_id=399530&in_page_id=19

Soco International
Soco International is selling its Mongolian interests to Daging Oilfield Ltd, a subsidiary of PetroChina, for a total consideration of around US$93m (approx 52m). The company also announces the successful testing of its latest Yemen well.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/04/08/061.html

LONDON -- Total and partners found more oil at their Yemen-based project after drilling a third successful well there, said Soco International, a British-based oil exploration company.

The new well, which produced 5,500 barrels of oil per day, was drilled at the Kharir field in Yemen's East Shabwa area this year, Soco said.

"This marks the third consecutive success of the four wells drilled thus far in the program initiated in August 2004 to evaluate" the field, Soco said in a statement distributed Thursday through the Regulatory News Service. One of the wells had to be shut for a technical review, it said. (Bloomberg)

Rigzone piece on yesterdays news:

Soco International Thursday, April 07, 2005


Soco International's majority owned subsidiary, Comeco Petroleum, through which the Company holds a 16.785% interest in the East Shabwa Development Area in Yemen ("ESDA"), announces the successful production test of the KHA-404. The well was drilled as part of the continuing appraisal and development of the Basement reservoir in the Kharir Field.
The KHA-404 spudded on February 1, 2005 and reached a total depth of 3,539 meters. The objectives of the well were to delineate the Basement and evaluate
reservoir development in the northern extension of the structure. KHA-404 produced over 5,500 barrels of oil per day ("BOPD") when tested earlier this week and is now connected to Kharir's main production facilities. This marks the third consecutive success of the four wells drilled thus far in the programme initiated in August 2004 to evaluate the Basement reservoir in the Kharir Field. After the first well, KHA-401 was suspended for a technical review, the KHA-402 well tested at 550 BOPD and the KHA-403 tested at over 6,500 BOPD.
The fifth Basement well in the current ESDA drilling program, the KHA-405, spudded on March 28, 2005

Results were supposed to be released tomorrow, the 13th. Contacted the company yesterday to check if they were still being released on the 13th. They advised that they won't be out tomorrow but are now pencilled in for the end of the this month. However, they did not give a definite date.

Well someone seems keen, 40k at 494.50 just went through.

Delayed results usually means bad news. Maybe this time it is different?!!

Hi August,

The results could be delayed for any number of reasons, I didn't ask them and I'm sure they would have told me to get lost had I done so. Perhaps they were put on hold as the company were finalising the Mongolia deal? Or maybe they were delayed so they could be released along with news from the first well in Vietnam? We should hear about that by end of April I would have thought. Anyway, these are just some of my thoughts, but I'm not worried by the delay.

Looking good today, plenty of buys and makes a change to see all the AT trades are buys. And someone rolled over 20k earlier.

RNS Number:1580L
Soco International PLC
18 April 2005

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 continuing interests in Vietnam, Yemen,
Mongolia, Libya and Thailand with ongoing production operations in Yemen and
Mongolia. As announced on 1 April 2005, SOCO has agreed to dispose of its
Mongolian operations, subject to gaining approval from its shareholders.



The appraisal well on the Ca Ngu Vang ("CNV") structure that spudded on 29
January 2005 reached target depth on 16 April 2005. At a measured depth ("MD")
of 6,123 metres, this gives the CNV-3X well the distinction of being the longest
MD well ever drilled in Vietnam. The well reached a total vertical depth of
4,426 metres penetrating 2,017 metres of Granitic Basement at an average angle
of 82 degrees from vertical intersecting various fault and fracture domains
within the reservoir. It is anticipated that the well will take some two to
three weeks to test.



18 April 2005



ENQUIRIES:


SOCO International plc Tel: 020 7747 2000
Roger Cagle, Deputy Chief Executive and
Chief Financial Officer

College Hill Tel: 020 7457 2020
Ben Brewerton
Nick Elwes





Notes to editors:

SOCO holds its interests in Vietnam, all in the Cuu Long Basin offshore, through
its 80% owned subsidiary SOCO Vietnam Limited ("SOCO Vietnam"). SOCO Vietnam
holds a 25% working interest in Block 9-2, which is operated by the Hoan Vu
Joint Operating Company and a 28.5% working interest in Block 16-1, which is
operated by the Hoang Long Joint Operating Company.




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

Some strange price action here earlier. Spread jumped to 480-520, and it looks as if someone bought at 520!

gav tmf makes interesting reading.

Again it is speculation as to what has been found, but even to my untrained eye, it looks like it could be major, plus the rns tells me that there is a lot of news between the lines.

May be why the finals were delayed.

Hi SWW, yes it was a very interesting discussion over there, extremely technical to say the least. Was never good at my angles at school! Looking forward to seeing the test results from the well in a couple of weeks, and also to the delayed results.

Hopefully CNV-3X will show good test results and maybe lead to Seymours Pierce changing their rating from sell to buy. No doubt those who took Seymours advice will be regreting it now.

A decent start to today, moving up on relatively low volume. What seems interesting today is that 4 of this mornings buys were above the offer price.

Mm.............

Looks like a few are catching on to the hidden meanings in the RNS.

Here's hoping that over the next 3 weeks or so quite a few more people will be given good reason to catch on here!

SWW,
What hidden meanings??

James

Interesting article on Vietnamese oil on Rigzone, doesnt mention Soco though.

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=22046

Results date confirmed, price moving up on the back of this. And an analyst meeting on the 9th May. :-))

Soco International PLC
26 April 2005


SOCO International plc

Notice of Results

SOCO International plc will be announcing its Preliminary results for the year
ended 31 December 2004 on Friday 29 April 2005.

A meeting for analysts will be held on Monday 9 May 2005. For further details
please contact Nick Elwes at College Hill on 020 7457 2020.


26 April 2005

Enquiries:

College Hill
Nick Elwes 020 7457 2020

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

CNV announcement on the same day?

Hard to call. The RNS on the 18th said 2 to 3 weeks to test CNV so it may be a bit tight for time for the 29th, thats only 11 days. However, I would assume CNV would be fully tested and news out by the 9th May for the analysts meeting. The EGM is on the 10th May, but I see that as just a formaility to vote on selling the Mongalian assets to the Chinese.

Can't wait for May, should be an interesting month to say the least! Hopefully the analyst's will like what the see. :-))

Forgot to say, the results were to be released on the 13th I think and were delayed. When I contacted the company for a new date, was told end April but at the time that was only a pencilled in date.