Just came across this article today and thought you would all...

Just came across this article today and thought you would all like to see that SP is talking to the media:

Bloomberg
Hardman Expects to Seal Trinidad, French Guiana Oil Ventures
2006-08-03 08:21 (New York)

By Angela Macdonald-Smith
Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Hardman Resources Ltd., a Perth-based oil and gas explorer, expects to seal ventures in Trinidad and French Guiana over the next few months as it seeks to overcome investor disappointment with its Mauritanian business.

The company will probably also reveal plans for the early development of oil discoveries in Uganda after talks later this month with East African nation's government and completing well tests, Simon Potter, chief executive, said today in an interview.

Hardman's shares have fallen 37 percent in the past three months even as crude oil prices reached records, making it the worst performer in the Australian Stock Exchange's benchmark energy index. Its Chinguetti oil project in Mauritania has produced at lower rates than expected, while plans to bid for exploration permits in Trinidad, and to sell stakes in a venture in French Guiana to partners have been delayed.

"Until we pull some of these things over the line and build some momentum that's the point at which people will start to recognize the strength of our assets and strategy,'' Potter said in Perth. "The world of Hardman is definitely colored by Chinguetti and until we're able to define a clear way forward on Chinguetti that situation will remain.''

Shares in Hardman today rose 2.5 cents, or 1.7 percent, to A$1.485 on the exchange, outpacing a 1.3 percent gain in the exchange's benchmark energy index. Hardman's London-traded shares fell 0.4 percent to 62.25 pence at 1:42 p.m. Hardman raised 64.6 million pounds ($122 million) in April selling shares to
investors in the U.K. at 98 pence apiece.

Agreements `Close'

Hardman is close to reaching agreements with partners who will help finance exploration in its French Guiana permits, he said. Trinidad's exploration permit auction was delayed several times earlier this year and is now set for October.

The $708 million Chinguetti venture, led by Woodside
Petroleum Ltd., intends to drill extra production wells at the field later this year to boost production, which has fallen to about 36,000 barrels a day, from an early peak of 75,000 barrels in March. The project, the West African country's first oil production, started up in February.

The venture will drill between one and three extra wells at the field, depending on the availability of equipment, Potter said today. It also intends to carry out another seismic survey of the field early next year to evaluate flows of oil through the reservoir since an initial survey was done, he said.

Earlier this week Woodside and its partners reported that the Colin-1 exploration well in Mauritania failed to find oil.

Next to be drilled are two wells on Dana Petroleum Plc-operated permits, which, if successful, may hold gas, he said. The Flamant-1 well, in which Gaz de France has a stake, will start drilling next week, targeting a potential discovery of 5 trillion cubic feet of gas, or 1 billion barrels of oil.

"Major Player"

Gaz de France last month agreed to study the feasibility of a liquefied natural gas project in Mauritania, saying it intends "to become a major player in the rapidly-growing Mauritanian gas
industry.''

Lower-than-anticipated cash flows from Chinguetti have resulted in some trimming of Hardman's planned expenditure, Potter said. Any decisions to enter more ventures than those already planned may result in Hardman selling stakes in existing ventures, he said.

"We do have to recognize that there's not as much cash flow from Chinguetti as we thought there was and cut our cloth appropriately,'' he said. "That still means an exploration program of some $60 million and for a company our size that's still some considerable exploration budget.''

Hardman is the Australian oil stock that's the most
leveraged to exploration in the next 12 months, Merrill Lynch & Co. said July 21. The company is targeting net reserves of more than 500 million barrels, more than 25 times its proven and probable reserves, it said.

Hardman's partner in Uganda is London-based Tullow Oil Plc.

Cheers

H