petroleum
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
company based in Sydney, Australia. The company was established in 1997 as a privately owned company by John Doran. In 1999, the company went public with an IPO at the Australian Stock Exchange, and in 2004, Roc was listed on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pa ...
. In 2008, Roc Oil merged with Anzon Australia, and in 2014 China's Fosun International conglomerate acquired Roc for AU$474 million.
Roc operated oil production facilities in Mauritania, Angola, Malaysia, and China, and in 2013, its last full year of independent operation, produced 2.7 million barrels of oil or equivalent products.
Company History
''Founder – John Doran''
John Doran was the CEO and founder of Roc Oil Company from 1999 to 2008, ending due to an untimely passing. Doran had extensive experience in both
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
as well as being classified as an 'oil man' after large involvement in the expansion of
gas exploration
Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth using petroleum geology.
Exploration methods
Visi ...
and production across
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
, the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
and Australia. Proceeding the start-up of Roc Oil Company, Doran was the managing director of Command Petroleum where before departing managed the sale of Command to
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pa ...
(LSE) listed company Cairn Energy in 1996.
''Inception of Roc Oil Company''
Following Doran's involvement with Command Petroleum, he started the Roc Oil Company in 1996, which was a private
start-up
A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...
company with the aims of exploring opportunities for gas and oil exploration, production and development in Australia,
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...
, parts of
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and the Middle East. Up until 1999 the company owned no assets, no working capital, and no partners. In 1999 the Roc Oil listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) through an
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...
(IPO), raising AU$150 million. Roc Oil utilised these funds to acquire a range of oil and gas assets in Eastern England and in the UK North Sea. The core of these assets was the
Saltfleetby Gas Field
Theddlethorpe Gas Terminal (TGT) is a former gas terminal on the Lincolnshire coast on ''Mablethorpe Road'' at Theddlethorpe St Helen close to Mablethorpe in East Lindsey in England. It is just off the A1031 and next door to a holiday camp and Ma ...
in
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershir ...
, which was underdeveloped later becoming one of the largest onshore gas field in the UK.
In mid-2008 John Doran passed away after a sudden illness at 62 years of age. Roc Oil's
Chief Operating Officer
A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...
Bruce Clement took charge on a temporary basis following the passing of Doran. Doran was mourned by his close family including his wife and two children. After two months as Acting CEO of Roc Oil Company, Clement was appointed as chief executive officer. ROC Chairman, Andrew Love stated, "the board had completed an external search for candidates and is confident that Bruce is the best person to lead the company."
Major Capital Raisings and Mergers & Acquisitions
''2001''
In April 2001, Roc Oil Company made a friendly unsolicited offer to acquire 40% of Canadian gas and oil exploration company, Gulfstream Resources Canada Ltd for C$1.10 per share of Gulfstream's outstanding
common stock
Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other Com ...
, approximately 25.7 million shares. The offer was valued at C$28.3 million, however was rejected by the Gulfstream. The Gulfstream chairman J. Angus McKee made a statement following the offer, stating "We do not welcome the Roc Oil offer, which we believe to be opportunistic and unrealistic".
''2004''
To further fuel the next stage of Roc Oil Company's growth Strategy, Roc Oil raised A$92 million through a 3 for 5 share rights issue, priced at $1.40 per share issuing 61,316,462 new shares (approximately 93% of the new issue). This was underwritten by Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty Ltd, who gained ownership of the remaining 7% of shares not purchased through the issue as per the underwriting agreement .
Following this capital raise in April, In December Roc Oil announced the sale of 100% of the subsidiary which owned the Saltfleetby Gas Field (acquired in 1999) for A$110 million (44-million-pound equivalent). The sale was estimated to earn Roc Oil 28.5 million pounds after tax profit for 2005. The buyer of the subsidiary was
Wingas
Wingas GmbH is a gas distribution company located in Kassel, Germany. It is a subsidiary of Gazprom, which held its shares through W&G Beteilligungs-GmbH & Co. KG.
History
Wingas was established in 1993 by BASF subsidiary Wintershall and Gazprom. ...
, a joint venture between
Wintershall AG
Wintershall Holding GmbH, based in Kassel, was Germany's largest crude oil and natural gas producer. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF. The company was active in oil and gas exploration and production with operations in Europe, North ...
(a German producer of oil and gas) as well as OAO Gazprom (Russian gas company and one of the largest in the world). The funds earned from the sale will be used to finance ROC's development of the Chinguetti Oil Field, offshore Mauritania and the Cliff Head Oil Field, Offshore
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...
and other ventures ROC was planning to explore.
''2006''
In June, ROC began further expanding its presence in Asia by planning to make a move to acquire a 24.5% stake in a China Oil Field off Apache (hydrocarbon explorer).
''2008''
To refine ROC's focus in terms of geographic operations, the company was planning on selling off its
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
and Africa assets. ROC had a 12.5% stake in the
Blane Oil Field
Blane ( no, Blanefeltet) is an offshore oil field located in the southern Norwegian and northern British sectors of North Sea. The acquisition would double ROC's crude oil reserves, with ROC having already taken control of 69% of the company and the CEO at the time confident in the offer stating "the deal will happen". In September, the shareholders of the UK located Anzon Energy approved of the A$600 million
merger
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
with ROC Oil. The merger granted ROC control of 53.1% stake of Anzon Australia (AZA.AU) and the off-market offer made for Anzon Australia will be declared unconditional as part of this deal. ROC stated, "the merger would remove single asset risk to Anzon shareholders as well as create significant upstream oil and gas company in Australia." ROC's payment was via share's finalised offering being 1.32 ROC shares for every AEL share.
2014 - ROC Acquired by Fosun International
''Horizon Merger Proposition''
Prior to Fosun's acquisition of ROC,
Horizon Oil
The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...
Limited announced a proposed merger of equals with ROC. The proposed merger was valued at A$800 million with Horizon shareholders owning 58% of the entity emerging from the merger and ROC shareholders with 42%. The deal aimed to allow ROC to operate in areas which it was not currently present, however would be attractive such as
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
and PNG, as larger companies were beginning to exit these areas. As well, the new entity would be able to produce between 15,000 and 20,000 barrels of oil a day approximately until 2030.
''Fosun Acquisition''
However, before the merger process was completed with Horizon, Transcendent Resources (a subsidiary of Fosun International) sent an off-market takeover bid for ROC Oil Company. Subsequently, ROC accepted the offer by Transcendent Resources, stating it offered better synergies and benefits to the be created group over the deal proposed by Horizon as well as offered a better premium over the share price. The ROC Oil Chairman Mike Harding stated, "the proposal to purchase all of ROC's shares for cash is superior when considered against the alternative merger of equals with Horizon and offers a significant premium to share price performance". The final offer by Fosun was A$474 million, paying A$0.69 per ROC Oil Company share, at the time being a 10 percent premium to the current share price and a 23 percent premium to the price prior to the announcement of the offer. Fosun commented on their rationale behind the transaction saying "to enable the group to enter the upstream oil & gas industry and acquire oil & gas assets."
2015 to Present
''Sale of Cliff Head Oil Field''
In 2017 ROC executed a share purchase agreement with Triangle (Perth Basin) and Royal Energy to sell of its 42.5% share of Cliff Head Oil Field. Total consideration paid for the share of the oil field was US$3,750,000. The
divestment
In finance and economics, divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of asset for financial, ethical, or political objectives or sale of an existing business by a firm. A divestment is the opposite of an investment. Divestiture is ...
was completed in order to provide cash in the business to invest in other areas of exploration, mainly China.
''Acquire Interest in Ungani Oil Field''
ROC Oil Company acquired 50% interest in the Ungani Oil Field located in Western Australia as well as 50% interest in the exploration permits from Buru Energy. The compensation paid for both the oil field as well as the exploration permits combined was a maximum of A$84 million. $60 million for the oil field as well as funding 80% of the first A$25 million exploration costs, being a maximum of A$20 million. The acquisition was completed in order to further support ROC's presence in Australia as stated by the CEO.
Mining Operations
Beibu Gulf
''2006''
In 2006 ROC commenced drilling a side-track appraisal
well
A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. T ...
in the
Beibu Gulf
The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of . It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern c ...
region, off shore China. in preliminary tests the discovery well unearthed a combined 5,700 b/d of oil from three columns.
''2014''
ROC Oil continued mining operations in the Beibu Gulf in 2014, drilling two exploration wells finding oil in one of the two wells. The wells were drilled to a depth of 1406 metres, "where the basement granite has been intersected". ROC further drilled a side track to an aggregate depth of 1,265 metres which further confirmed the presence of oil in the very top of the Jiaowei formation. ROC CEO, Alan Linn said the "discovery adds potentially valuable incremental oil to the larger project". The wells were plugged and abandoned on 27 September 2014.
Australia
''Western Australia - Perth''
In 2007, ROC made a discovery of oil and gas in their Dunsborough well in an offshore
Perth
Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...
Basin which is 37.5% owned by ROC. The Dunsborough well was the third and final well the program which commenced in April 2007. The first well, Frankland discovered gas and the second, Perseverance too discovered gas. CEO at the time, Doran commented on the discoveries saying "Frankland and Dunsborough look as if they have the best chances of being developed, while Perseverance will probably need a lot of good things to happen around it if it is going to make the grade".
The Frankland well, the first well of the operation located offshore Perth was shortly plugged and abandoned, labelled as a small gas discovery. This was done in support of the companies strategy to target oil. Additionally, the company also said "whether or not an associated oil log is present needs to be evaluated and if an oil leg exists, it is likely to be small".
''Western Australia - Canning Basin''
ROC Oil has current operations still in Western Australia, in the canning basin located in the northern region of WA being the Ungani Oil Field. the field is owned 50/50 by Roc Oil Company and Buru Energy Limited and is a producer of oil. the field produces approximately 850 bopd gross crude oil from a total of five wells, This oil is exported to a terminal in Wyndham and stored as well as exported by ship. The first two wells were drilled in 2015, and followed by an additional two in May 2018.
Angola
''Cabinda''
ROC Oil Company were approved as the operator for the Cabinda Well in
in 2001. ROC gained a 45% interest in the onshore block, where more than 4.5 billion barrels (bbl) have already been discovered during the last 40 years. In 2008 the fifth well, Coco discovered oil and associated gas during a test. At the time there was sceptical views held of the area and the amount which could be produced with BBY analyst Scott Ashton commenting "There was a pre-drill expectation that Coco was going to be smaller". However CEO Doran stated the company had different expectations saying "we don't know the size, which is why we didn't comment on it".
However, in later 2008 in October, ROC plugged and abandoned the first appraisal well in Angola. The project was less successful than anticipated, with the five of the seven wells in the drilling program failing to find commercial quantities of oil. While the company did abandon the well, it was announced that the company would plan to re-enter the Angola project, specifically the Coco well in order to test and find oil in the future.
ROC Oil Company's Responsibility
Health, Safety and Environment Committee
ROC Oil Company established the Health, Safety and Environment
Committee
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
in 2012 in order to meet the company's obligations to the environment and the safety of their employees as well as assist with the development of policies, procedures and practises. The committee is made up of at least two directors ( independent directors), the CEO and the Corporate HSE Manager as well as an appointed chairman.
The main responsibilities of the committee outlined in their charter is:
* review the status of the company's HSE
* monitor the company's processes that ensure compliance with HSE regulations
* review reports from and responses to significant HSE incidents