Roc to Drill Next Well in Angola After Sesamo-1 Fails

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

July 30 (Bloomberg) -- Roc Oil Co., the Australian company seeking oil in Mauritania, China and Angola, said it will start drilling the final well in a seven-hole exploration program in Angola after the failure of the Sesamo-1 probe.

The drill-rig used at Sesamo-1 will be moved 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) to the southwest to work on the Arroz-1 well, Sydney-based Roc Oil said today in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. No oil or gas was detected at Sesamo-1, it said.

Roc's Cabinda South venture, which includes Force Petroleum Ltd. and the national oil company Sonangol SA, started drilling more than a year ago in the southwestern African nation. It found oil at the Massambala-1 and Coco-1 wells, neither of which has been confirmed as commercial.

The venture plans appraisal drilling at the Massambala-1 heavy oil discovery this half, while the Coco-1 find will be tested late this year or early 2009, Roc said in the statement.

Roc, which is seeking to buy local rival Anzon Australia Ltd., gained for the first time in six days, rising 1.4 percent to A$1.50 in Sydney trading, after earlier dropping to the lowest for more than four years.

At the Zhao Dong C&D project in Bohai Bay, offshore China, the C4 oil field is on schedule to start production in the fourth quarter, Roc said.

North Sea, Mauritania

The company had production of 9,399 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the three months ended June 30, up from 8,676 barrels a year earlier as the start-up of the Blane oil field in the North Sea more than offset lower output at the Cliff Head project in Australia, at Zhao Dong and at the Chinguetti venture in Mauritania, it said. Output fell 14 percent from the preceding quarter.

Separately, Roc and Anzon Australia parent Anzon Energy Ltd. said an independent expert hired by Anzon to examine Roc's takeover bid determined the offer is ``fair and reasonable.'' Roc last month agreed to buy London-based Anzon Energy for A$268 million in shares and is seeking to buy the rest of the Australian unit for scrip and cash.

Anzon Energy shareholders will vote on Roc's offer on Sept. 3, Roc and Anzon Energy said today in a joint statement to the exchange. The value of Roc's offer has fallen about 26 percent to about A$224 million since it was announced because of a drop in the bidder's share price.

The value of Roc's offer for Sydney-based Anzon Australia has in the same period fallen to about A$460 million, or A$1.24 a share, from about A$612 million, or A$1.65 a share. Anzon Australia closed unchanged at A$1.15 in Sydney.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net