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 broker upgrade certainly, about time too.
But I had already read almost the exact analysis a few weeks ago.
ee. on the other side is the man too ask about Soco,not much he does not know.
And if the results of their well in Vietnam is good, skies the limit for the share price..

Good test results...drops like a stone !!!, I suppose that if the results were bad it would rise !!!.

Well, I don't get the market reaction here,.....more tests to come later with 60000 to 100000 barrels per day by 2010 (just 2 years), and this slump !

This is why:
"LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Soco International Plc. said it was unable to record meaningful sustained flow rates from the first drill stem test (DST) on Te Giac Den 1X sidetrack well offshore Vietnam, following downhole damage sustained during drilling.

The oil and gas exploration company said, however, that the test flowed gas and condensate to surface and that the second DST, results of which should be available by the end of June, should not be subject to the same problems.

Soco said last month that drilling on the well had ceased after reaching a depth of 5,096 metres measured due to concerns over the integrity of the well bore."

Thanks Harrycat.

I too was somewhat confused as to the rapid fall. Here's hoping for better results next time round. Time to top up?

Thanks Harrycat, rebound today,.....patience now required.....!.

Looking good ahead of the agm tomorrow

Well....I got out of this at the right time.....still don't fully understand the drop today because it looks promising longterm.

Rumour in Share Mag today possible OFFER for SOCO

Yes right which is why the sp has dropped.

Really makes sense 002

To be fair it was a passing comment with absolutley no information to support it.
Quote: "...we have evidence of approaches for Soco Int & Sterling Energy".
This came from Paul Mumford Of Cavendish Asset Management. He may be correct.
EDIT: This was released as a RNS but has so far come to nothing:
"In response to press speculation, SOCO confirms that at various times the Company is involved in discussions with various entities regarding potential corporate transactions. The board of SOCO can confirm that it has received a very preliminary approach regarding the sale of a majority of the Company's asset portfolio.
There can be no certainty that any transaction will occur or as to the terms of any such transaction.
A further announcement will be made when appropriate."
The assumption is that there will be a formal auction of SOCO VN in which Sinochem will be one of several participants, perhaps including the Koreans, Japanese and others with an interest in the basin.

HARRYCAT I did say rumour and the price is down along with all oil/mining sector

Really surprised at the lack of interest in SOCO.
It`s been on a march for the last couple of days after a very positive bit of research by RBC who have given it a NAV of about 514p which they say could be considerably increased if they strike it lucky in the Congo. But that will be the icing on the cake.

Soco says appraisal well flow sub-commercial
StockMarketWire.com


Oil and gas company Soco International said an appraisal well offshore Vietnam will be plugged and abandoned after encountering flows at sub-commercial rates.

Soco said the Te Giac Den appraisal well, TGD-2X, encountered significant hydrocarbons in a reservoir sequence at around 4,550m measured depth and produced both black oil and gas.

However, the well was drilled on the flank of the structure, whereas both the TGD-1X and TGD-1XST wells were on the crest.

The oil leg on the flank lacked the gas content encountered on the crest, meaning there was insufficient reservoir energy to generate acceptable flow rates.

Soco said post-drilling analysis was continuing as the well was being prepared for abandonment and a decision on the future of the TGD appraisal area would follow.

The first two development wells on the Te Giac Trang development, TGT-H1-1P and TGT-H1-2P, had now been completed. Both were being suspended and would become producing wells on start-up of production in mid-2011.

Soco said production during the first phase of development was estimated at about 55,000 barrels of oil a day.

Preliminary log analysis of the first well indicated it encountered the top of the target reservoir horizon on prognosis.

The second well encountered the reservoir section about 10m higher in the section than the pre-drill prognosis, strongly supporting a favourable structural reservoir analysis that the TGT field extends to the east.

President and CEO Ed Story said, 'When we embarked on the TGD exploration campaign, we realized that it would be difficult and technically challenging. However, such a vast potential prize warranted the effort.

'Further analysis of the data gathered from the TGD-2X well will determine our path forward for this area.

'On the other hand, we are extremely pleased that the revised TGT field interpretation has been validated in an early well, giving rise to a potentially greater accumulation of reserves in the field.'

Exploration in the DRC continued. The Kinganga-Nyanya-1 exploration well spudded on October 1 and is expected to take 20 days to drill to total depth.

The fall is overdone imo.

Evolution note:
"The surprise failure of the TGD E appraisal in Vietnam is likely to leave the company with few options to drive the share price in the near future. The appraisal well although having found hydrocarbons in September has failed to flow oil and gas insufficient quantities to be commercial due a lack of reservoir pressure. More analysis will be done on the area however at this stage we see it prudent to take out the value of the project from our valuation. Our TP is now 353p which is the companys Core Value and is some 23% below last nights close. At this stage we would only buy the shares if the Congo exploration value were in for free. This is a bitter blow for the company coming on the back of what has been a prolonged drilling and appraisal of the structure. The initial well in Congo has also disappointed with a second well due to complete within twenty days."

This is a strong sell... more bad news on the way.

Wait till Soco's KingangaNyanya-1 well results which is deemed to be 'high risk' comes out within weeks. If it is a duster, Soco's sp will be clearly below 300p.