AGM Statement

SOCO International (“SOCO” or “the Group”)

At the SOCO AGM, being held today, the following statement has been made:

“There is no doubt that SOCO has made significant strides over the past year and is now well placed to drive forward its growth strategy, being in a strong financial position and with a portfolio that offers near term production growth, considerable development and appraisal potential in Vietnam and exciting exploration opportunities in West Africa.

Whereas the difficulties encountered during the course of drilling the Te Giac Den-1X and the side track well were frustrating, the significance of last week’s announcement on the first drill stem test should not be underestimated. It illustrated the ability to flow hydrocarbons to surface, despite damage to the formation caused by the technical issues surrounding such a high pressure well. Accordingly, SOCO and its partners can set aside the discovery, integrate the well results with the seismic data and prepare the appraisal programme for what appears to be a very significant asset for the Group. Once the second drill stem test is completed in the next couple of weeks, the seismic will be reprocessed in order to identify the optimal location for the next well.

We are also making progress with our other interests in Vietnam. The result of the Te Giac Trang-6X well, which was drilled on the H4 fault block near the southern extent of the TGT field, further illustrated the potential of the field. We look forward to drilling two further appraisal wells in the filed this year and receiving the Declaration of Commerciality prior to submitting the outline development plan. The wells drilled over the 15 kilometre structure to date have tested in excess of a total combined rate of 60,000 barrels of oil per day, which indicates that full field production in excess of 100,000 bopd is achievable, with first phase production planned for 2010. SOCO’s ability to commercialise projects on budget and on time has been illustrated by the progress made at the Ca Ngu Vang field, and we look forward to enjoying first production next month.

Production is also scheduled to commence in Thailand next month, with the next exploration drilling news expected from the Marine XI block in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) sometime late in the fourth quarter of this year. We have continued to build our portfolio in West Africa, adding projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These projects combined with those already in our asset portfolio have the potential to create significant upside for SOCO’s shareholders over the next few years.

SOCO is in a position to comfortably finance its operational activity following the sale of the Group’s interests in Yemen for approximately $465 million. This disposal was again a demonstration of the Group’s ability to realise value from an asset at the appropriate time in its life cycle.

In summary, we think that the year ahead will be an exciting one with a number of significant milestones as we build our production base in Vietnam and Thailand, commence the development of TGT, continue the process of determining the size and potential of the TGD discovery, and initiate the exploration programme in West Africa.”