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.

Re my last, I am probably being too hard on them, (Peel Hunt).

I just had a look bakc on the March Oil & Gas note, and actually they have called a few quite well, including a SELL for Regal Petroleum having correctly identified the importance of the Greecian and Romanian plays.

The price currently at 4.80 wouod seem to be in line according to what they say.

More to come from SOCO which will make a reassessment necessary whether they win or loose.

Cheers for the posts guys. Personally I'm happy with the drilling report and the progress being made in Vietnam, this was only the first well out of 4 definite for this year. Now the rig is being moved to test TGT-1X on block 16-1. Positive words from Ed:

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


'The results of the CNV-3X well were outstanding. This demonstrates the
technical competence of our team and proves that the complexities of Basement
exploration and development can be solved by rigorous adherence to enhanced
seismic reprocessing and through careful planning and execution in drilling. We
expect that these successful results will lead to an early declaration of
commerciality.


The drilling rig will now move to the TGT-1X exploration well on Block 16-1
where we are equally excited about the potential. Vietnam is clearly a core
area for SOCO and we expect to join the ranks of significant producers there.'

As to Peel Hunt's note, they state in it that the well tested was CNV-2X when in fact it was CNV-3X, bit of an error there! Still think that the overall sector is suffering from the RPT fallout, but I've no intention of selling any of my SIA right now.

This piece seems to sum up what is going on right now with the sector:

"MORE misery was being piled on shareholders of Alternative Investment Market (Aim)-listed Regal Petroleum today as the shares slumped 13p to a two-year low of 81p, having briefly touched 79p.


The rest of the sector got a much-needed boost today as rival exploration player Soco International unveiled a new find in Vietnam. The group has tested an offshore well and found it flows at more than 13,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. Soco slipped p to 481p"

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/business/articles/timid400767?source=This%20is%20Money

Rigzone piece on today's RNS, nothing new really.

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=22671

This sector is out of favour, period.

Smallish director buying:

Soco International PLC
24 May 2005




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

DIRECTOR SHAREHOLDING

The Company has been notified that Mr Olivier Barbaroux has today acquired
an interest in a further 10,000 SOCO International plc ordinary shares of
0.20 each ('Shares'). The Shares were purchased on the open market at
4.78 per Share and represents 0.014% of the issued share capital of the
Company.

Following this transaction, Mr Barbaroux has an interest in 20,000 Shares,
representing 0.028% of the issued share capital of the Company.



Contact: Carol Fan, 020 7747 2000




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

Can't go wrong at 4.78.

Wish I could do some more but........

Missed this one from earlier, thats what happens when you have a long lie in! :-) More director buying, good to see them putting their money where their mouth is.

Soco International PLC
26 May 2005


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

DIRECTORS' INTERESTS

The Company was notified on 25 May 2005 that during 24-25 May 2005, Mr Patrick
Maugein acquired a further interest in 130,000 (0.18%) SOCO International plc
ordinary shares of 0.20 each ('Shares').

The Shares were acquired at an average price of 4.79 per Share by Chemsa Ltd
which is owned by a trust company whose potential ultimate beneficiary is the
family of Mr Maugein. Following this transaction, Chemsa Ltd holds 5,921,435
Shares, representing 8.19% of the issued share capital of the Company.

Mr Maugein is now deemed to have an interest in 6,640,804 Shares representing
9.19% of the issued share capital of the Company. This interest is held through
Chemsa Ltd and Yunfiel SA (719,369 Shares) of which Mr Maugein owns 100% of the
issued share capital. In addition to Shares, Mr Maugein is interested in a total
of 365,867 Warrants held through Chemsa Ltd (325,215 Warrants) and Yunfiel SA
(40,652 Warrants) at an exercise price of 0.55 each.


Contact: Carol Fan, 020 7747 2000



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

Blimey

The price looks at a fair discount with all this going on.

May take a big 250k loan out................

On second thoughts.........

SWW, I think thats a pretty decent sized buy by Maugein adding to his already sizable holding. I do like to see directors owning good chunks of the company, it inspires confidence. After all, if they thought the prospects weren't good would they put their own money in it? Well thats just the way I see things, others may see it differenly. Of course, it doesnt mean that every company having large director holdings will be successful, but combining this with recent drilling successes make me feel even happier as to the story that is unfolding here.


I sort of compare it to Hugh Hendry, the hedge fund manager of Odey Asset Management. I saw an interview recently with him on CNBC. I've got a lot of time for what he says so always listen out for him. He was asked where he puts his own money as there was a discussion along the lines of would you put your own money into a hedge fund if the manager didn't put his into it. He answered that he has all his own money in his own fund so if he runs the fund badly it's his family that would suffer. I like that way of thinking.

Article on today's Oilbarrel.

27.05.2005
SOCO Excited By Outstanding Drilling Success In Vietnam
An appraisal well on the Ca Nqu Vang structure in the Cuu Long Basin offshore Vietnam has come up trumps for London-listed SOCO International. The CNV-3x well in block 9-2 tested at a rate equivalent to 13,040 barrels of oil per day, comprising just over 9,000 bpd of oil and 22.6 million cubic feet of gas per day. The well is a follow-up to the CNV-1X discovery of 2002, which flowed the equivalent of 4,500 barrels of oil per day during testing.

Ed Story, SOCOs president and chief executive, described the latest well results as outstanding. We expect that these successful results will lead to an early declaration of commerciality, said Story.

The company is already quietly confident it has a commercially viable project on its hands and has initiated the necessary documentation to submit to the Vietnamese government, including a reserve assessment report and development plan.

http://www.oilbarrel.com/home.html

A piece in today's Chicago Tribune, seems Wasatch International Growth Fund are holders of Soco. From the article:

"Health care, consumer services and business services are its largest concentrations. It owns fewer industrial materials stocks than are represented in the broad international indexes. The fund's top holdings recently were AWD Holding of Germany, Puma AG of Germany, PARK24 of Japan, United Drug of Ireland, SOCO International of the United Kingdom, Orpea of France and Cairn Energy of the UK"

Full article:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0505290235may29,1,7931859.story?coll=chi-business-hed

Moving up nicely from this months low's.

Excellent rise today, allbeit on light volumes. Hopefully we will move up and test the all time highs of end Feb start March.

Then low volumes I see as good.
I think that we are cleared of a big seller and with the volatility since, we will get greater sp movements up.

Could be wrong and often am................

Good rise this morning and again it seems on low volumes from the start. So if a seller has been cleared then perhaps we will see the volatility and tightness of stock that we have seen here before. Lets see what happens when the US opens.

Just popping in to say "hi" since I was poking about on the site :-)

You'll have noticed that the two exec Directors exercised their options yesterday and that the long oil futures finished at new record highs last night, I assume?

Offers being lifted [in a small way only, so far] this morning.

See most of you on TMF no doubt.

ee

Good morning ee.

Nice to see you.

As you see gav does an excellent job here of research and updating plus we have a nice graph a few posts back.

All looking very promising methinks.

Hello EE and welcome to the thread. Hope your'e enjoying the L2 trial. I did indeed notice the late RNS from yesterday, here it is in case anyone missed it:

http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200506091811433969N.html


And yes have noticed that the Dec 11 contract closed yesterday at new highs and is again up today 0.30 to 54.55. Also noticed that it has risen quite significantly from it's low of mid April to where it is now. Quite an increase in the oil price yesterday with the first hurricane of the season passing Cuba heading into the GoM this weekend.

Good to see your first post over here and hopefully we'll see some more.

Gav

PS - the streaming prices here put advfn's to shame! :-)

Back from 18 days hols to see good progress on all sides. Keep up the good work,gavdfc; I'm sure it's all down to you!