HDR- Press reports

Here are the latest press reports on the BANDA discovery from the AFR and the Age; seems to me the most important fact reported is that Banda is believed to be a 100m barrel find, which is similar to Chinguetti. Add on severeral trillion (!!) cubic feet of gas (not sure how much the gas is worth but sounds like a lot). I think the market has misjudged the commerciality of this find - although the oil column was just 23m, the field at Banda is large and thus the 100mbbl estimated oil reserves.

The sands is reported to be turbidite sand which has shown to be prolific oil producers elsewhere in the world. Also the AFR article noted/suggested that there would be similar prospects nearby given the type of geo formation giving rise to the gas and oil accumulation at Banda.


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Aus Fin Review
Woodside, Hardman hit oil again
Sep 24
Ian Howarth

Woodside Petroleum and junior exploration group Hardman Resources have discovered their second 100-million-barrel oil field off the coast of Mauritania in West Africa in a little over a year.

The latest discovery, in the Chinguetti-4-3 well, was a 133-metre hydrocarbon column filled with natural gas and oil. It contains 100 million barrels of recoverable oil and several trillion cubic feet of gas, according to Hardman's managing director, Ted Ellyard.

This discovery is a similar size to the original Chinguetti discovery and only 20 kilometres from it. The original discovery was drilled by Woodside and Hardman in early 2001.

However, shares in both companies fell yesterday as traders sold on early reports that the latest discovery was a gas field.

The latest discovery contains 110m of gas and 23m of high-quality, low-sulphur crude oil.

Mr Ellyard said the size of the latest discovery had upgraded the entire Chinguetti sequence of hydrocarbon prospects in the offshore Mauritania exploration region in which Hardman holds a 24.3 per cent stake.

Woodside is the operator with a 35 per cent stake, equal to Italy's AGIP. The remainder is held by UK-listed Fusion Oil and Gas and Sydney-based Roc Oil.

The next well in the Mauritania drilling program will be a third appraisal well on the original Chinguetti discovery.


That discovery is certain to be commercially developed, with Woodside already seeking to lease a conventional floating production and storage vessel to bring the field into production by mid-2005.

The latest discovery, on the Banda prospect of the Chinguetti field, is also expected to be a commercial prospect although its production would be about a year behind the first project.

It was formed in ancient times when an eroded canyon in the former continental shelf edge dropped masses of sand onto a river fan system which was later buried and filled with oil and gas. This means it has multiple future drilling targets nearby.

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The Age
Mauritania test shows oil, gas
September 24 2002
By Barry FitzGerald


The Woodside and Hardman-led consortium drilling in Mauritania's offshore waters has notched up another sizeable discovery with their drilling of the Banda prospect in the Chinguetti exploration block.

The partners reported yesterday that early results from the much-watched well, about 60 kilometres from the coast and in 300 metres of water, indicated the presence of a 23-metre (gross) oil column overlaid by a 110-metre (gross) gas column.

Initial market reaction to the find was one of disappointment, given that the original Chinguetti discoveries 20 kilometres from Banda encountered 120-metre and 94-metre oil columns.

The Chinguetti results lent weight to expectations that recoverable reserves there were more than 110 million barrels across the structure. At first reading, the local market took the Banda result to suffer in comparison.

But, if anything, the Banda result has fuelled new optimism in the Woodside and Hardman camp that they are opening up what could become a big new oil and gas province off the west African coast.


That is because Banda is the first turbidite-sand oil find by the joint venture offshore from Mauritania. The broad lateral extent of such stratigraphic traps - Chinguetti is a standard structural trap - means that early talk rates Banda as an oil find of 100 million barrels, with several trillion cubic feet of gas.

Turbidite sands elsewhere off west Africa, as well as Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico, have yielded big discoveries in recent years. The Mauritanian exploration fairway controlled by Woodside/Hardman contains dozens of similar targets.

The sizeable gas field found by the Banda result was also not without merit, given that Mauritania has a diesel-generated power supply. The country's dry climate has also made an energy-hungry desalination project a possibility.

Nevertheless, the share price of Woodside (35 per cent stake, and operator) weakened 14 cents yesterday to $12.59. Hardman (24.3 per cent) was nine cents lower at 77 cents. The Sydney-based Roc Oil (2.7 per cent) was one cent softer to $1.42.

The managing director of Woodside, John Akehurst, said the latest results had increased the group's confidence in relation to the emerging hydrocarbon province.

Roc managing director John Doran said that it was increasingly difficult to avoid the view that drilling successes experienced in the past 15 months represented the birth of a new petroleum province.

"However, only time and a lot more wells will tell whether the encouragement provided by the drilling program to date is justified," Dr Doran said.

The rig used for drilling Banda is to be moved back to drill an appraisal well on the Chinguetti discovery, as well as complete test work on the most recent well drilled there.

After that another wildcat target in the northern blocks, Thon, is due to be drilled.