HardmanoIm not to sure whether an accounting writeoff of...

Hardmano

Im not to sure whether an accounting writeoff of expenditure would be considered a deduction for tax purposes,but your point may be valid.

On the issue of the other blocks of Mauritania, they would also need to get dana to agree on spending money soon which they may not have capacity to do so yet given they have a higher stake (unless your refering to HDR acquiring some stake of Dana's acerage.)

I believe that with this extra money, this year extensive drilling campaign (excluding Mauritania) will be focused on Uganda and Gabon and hopefully Guyane with some money used on the development of Chinguetti in order to reduce debt financing...


remember the more the finds/exploration proposals the more the shareholders can command a greater takeover premium in the short term... I seem to recall that one minor point of the government rejection of Shells bid for Woodside was that Woodside was talking up Mauritania's potential and the fact that it wasnt factored into shells takeover bid.