More write up's on HDR

And more write up's on Hardman

Woodside, Eni, Fusion Strike Oil in Mauritania (Update2)
By Alex Lawler

London, Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Eni SpA and their partners found oil near Mauritania, the second discovery at a field off the northwest African nation's coast.
Shares of Fusion Oil & Gas Plc, one of the investors in the Chinguetti field, rose 6.25 pence, or 14 percent, to 53 pence in London, the biggest gain since April 5. The partners haven't specified how much oil the field holds.

The discovery comes after the partners last year found oil about 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) away. Oil companies are increasingly looking to the waters off the coast of West Africa, where Nigeria and Angola hold 2.8 percent of the world's known reserves.

``It's very good news for them,'' said Bruce Evers, an analyst at Investec Henderson Crosthwaite in London, who recommends investors buy Fusion shares. ``It's not going to do any harm to reserves.''

The Chinguetti 4-2 well drilled in 800 meters of water encountered ``several significant oil-bearing sandstones'' in a reservoir 94 meters thick, Fusion said in a statement. The partners next plan to test how much oil the well can produce.

Woodside of Australia and Eni of Italy each hold 35 percent of the field. Fusion has 6 percent, Hardman Resources Ltd. has 21.6 percent and Roc Oil Co. another 2.4 percent.

Hardman shares rose 10 cents, or 14 percent, to 84 Australian cents. Woodside gained 16 cents, or 1.2 percent, to A$13.72. Eni rose 1.8 percent at 16.25 euros.

In May 2001, the partners found oil at Chinguetti, the first oil discovery in the deep waters off Mauritania's coast. Efforts dating from 1969 had focused in waters less than 200 meters deep and didn't find enough oil to justify development.

``This takes a step down the road to saying that this field is commercial,'' said Alan Stein, Fusion's managing director, in an interview.

A study for Fusion by Scott Pickford, an oil consulting firm, found that Chinguetti holds between 106 million and 247 million barrels, with as much as 452 million barrels. Only a proportion of that will be recovered.

Fusion, which built up exploration permits in African nations such as Ghana, Cameroon and Gabon, in 1998 sold rights to most of the Mauritanian fields to Woodside, Australia's second-largest oil company, and Eni

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