(9/10/2002 - Oil &Gas International: Lagos) Woodside Petroleum is moving the drillship Deepwater Discovery off its Chinguetti-4-2 development well in Mauritania's deepwater Block 4 and will employ it to drill an exploratory well on the Banda prospect, not far away. Woodside, operator of the block and Chinguetti well, decided to decrease the downtime it has been experiencing due to a temporary suspenson of drilling on the Chinguetti well due to mechanical problems.
Hardman Resources, Woodside's partner with Fusion Oil & Gas in Block 4, said today the Deepwater Discovery is to carry out the planned drilling of the Banda probe while equipment that failed during production testing on Chinguetti is replaced. Once drilling of the Banda well is completed, the drillship will return to complete its work on the Chinguetti Field to evaluate the reserves and potential production rates. The Banda-1 well is expected to be spudded within the next two to three days.
Woodside Petroleum is the operator of Mauritania's Block 4 and the Chinguetti well, with 35% interest. Its partners are ENI (35%), Hardman Resources (21.6%), Fusion Oil & Gas (6%), and Roc Oil (2.4%).
