hardman - blue sky, page-3

Woodside said preliminary evaluation at its Mauritania Area B joint venture with Hardman Resources indicated a gas column of about 4m overlying a gross oil column of about 122m.

Hardman shares rose 8c to 74c.

Hardman chief executive Ted Ellyard said it "was still early days" but the discovery could indicate the reserve was larger than the 200 million barrels of oil the company had hoped for.

The market has been more excited, with analysts saying the reserve could be larger still and might be the big story of 2004.