hdr-poune, page-7

re: hdr-poune - big bids at 70 cents Got a rare chance to jump on the internet - I'm stuck out bush for a few months atm. Great news out yesterday. Here's that article in the financial review (don't think it's been posted yet). Really like the way they talk about an unkown fluid at the bottom - let's hope it's all oil and no water contact. Been a while since I've seen 1mil and 2mil shares wanted on the buy side. I hope the next announcement of detailed wireline logs pushes the price up a bit more where it belongs.

Cheers,
Butcherano.

Woodside's Tiof wildcat identifies oil reservoir
Author: Ian Howarth
Date: 10/11/2003 21:54:00
Words: 354
Publication: Financial Review
Section: Companies
Page: 18
Source: AFRBreaking

Woodside Petroleum has made its third major discovery off the coast of Mauritania in West Africa, with the Tiof wildcat well yesterday producing an extensive oil and gas reservoir.

The discovery joins the Chinguetti and Banda oil and gas fields found earlier.

The Tiof well yesterday produced a gross gas column of 48 metres and an underlying oil column at least 38 metres thick.

But the oil leg could be significantly thicker - reservoir sands towards the base of the well are saturated with an unknown fluid, requiring more tests to determine if it is water or more oil.

Tiof, 25 kilometres north of the Chinguetti field, was estimated earlier this year to have a mean recoverable oil content of 153 million barrels. At least one more well will be required to accurately determine the size of the latest discovery.

UBS oil analyst Gordon Ramsay said yesterday's result from Tiof was "an encouraging story".

"I'm not calling it commercial yet, but it's a good story," he said.

Mr Ramsay said the Tiof discovery provided proof of a second major oil and gas "fairway" in the region which offered potential for even more discoveries as more wells were drilled.

The announcement of the Tiof success came just ahead of the close of trade yesterday, after shares in Tiof partners Hardman Petroleum and Roc Oil had jumped a few cents - though Woodside shares slipped on the day.

In Australia, Santos announced further success from the Casino gas discovery off the south-west coast of Victoria.

The Casino 3 well produced 45 million cubic feet of gas per hour in a flow test that was limited by the size of the equipment in the well, Santos said.

Managing director John Ellice-Flint said the gas flow allowed the Casino joint venture, which includes locally listed AWE Ltd and Japan's Mitsui, to start "detailed project engineering with a view to first production in 2006".