The database can not be created by exp/imp, no way. You have to create the instance and the database manualy, only then can you execute the import. However you don't need to create the complete database, ie don't need to create all the tablespaces, users etc... Creating the database with a SYSTEM tablespace, an additional RB segment in sytem TS and users SYS and SYSTEM is sufficient, provided that imp will be able to create the datafiles exactly es they were in the original database (ie it will be able to create exactly the same directory structure for database files).