ROCH

completed

ROCH S.A. (ROCH S.A. or the company) is a small Argentinean oil and gas exploration and production company. Its six hydrocarbon assets are located in the Austral, Golfo San Jorge, and Neuquén basins, in central and southern Argentina. The company’s main asset is its Rio Cullen – Las Violetas – Angostura fields, which produces natural gas and crude oil from Tierra del Fuego island. Current oil and gas net production to ROCH is 440 barrels per day (b/d) and 4,6 MM cubic feet per day (mmcf/d), respectively. IFC has been requested to provide a financing package to the company to partially fund its 2007-2010 capital expenditure program, which includes: - Drilling programs aimed to increase production from existing hydrocarbon fields;- New production and storage facilities; - Exploration activities within company’s hydrocarbon concessions; - Potential acquisition of new hydrocarbon assets. The company has operations in the Tierra del Fuego province (Las Violetas, Angostura and Rio Cullen fields), in the Santa Cruz province (Sur del Rio Deseado field), in the Rio Negro province (Medianera field) and in the Mendoza province (Cajon de los Caballos field). The company also has an interest in the Llancanelo field (Mendoza province) and in Cañadon Ramirez field (Chubut province). The main development and production activities are concentrated in Tierra del Fuego fields and Sur del Rio Deseado. The most sensitive areas from the environmental point of view are in Tierra del Fuego, in particular in Las Violetas and Angostura fields because the coastal portions of these two fields lie within a natural reserve (see Performance Standard 6 section for a more detailed description of IFC requirements).