OREANDA-NEWS. April 19, 2011. ROC Oil Company Ltd says it’s focused on expanding in China, entering Malaysia, and selling its African assets and stake in the troubled Basker-Manta-Gummy (BMG) project offshore Victoria.

Chief executive Alan Linn, who took the helm in February, says the company is poised to start a new chapter in its history with the sale of its 30 per cent interest in the Bass Strait project and full exit from Africa including a producing asset in Mauritania.

Africa was simply too expensive to explore, Mr Linn said.

ROC’s 2010 results were overshadowed by losses for BMG following a dramatically downwardly revised reserves estimate, and it would have otherwise booked a USD86 million (AUD82.06 million) trading profit.

Mr Linn said ROC hoped to complete the BMG and African transactions by the end of this calendar year, boosting its funds and freeing the company to focus on growth in Asia.

He said the firm planned to increase its acreage in China, where it operates the Zhao Dong oil field in a joint venture with PetroChina and Sinochem, and is a partner in the Beibu Gulf development, where first oil production is expected by the end of 2012.

ROC last month secured two blocks adjacent to Zhao Dong, containing existing discoveries.

"We’ll see if we can get more acreage in that area," Mr Linn told AAP.

In Malaysia, ROC hopes to take a material position, he said.

This year in Malaysia, 27 small field service contracts will be made available for project operators and ROC hopes to secure a substantial slice of these.

The Malaysian projects could deliver cashflow in two to three years, adding to new earnings from the Beibu Gulf project, Mr Linn said.

Indonesia is another South East Asian nation of interest to ROC, but to a lesser extent than Malaysia, he added.