Australia's Roc says Chinguetti project to cost $700m
Thursday September 8, 2005, 4:12 pm
SYDNEY, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Woodside Petroleum Ltd.'s (ASX: WPL.ax) Chinguetti oil project off the coast of Mauritania is likely to cost more than $700 million, rather than the $625 million in its original budget, a project partner said on Thursday.
Sydney-based Roc Oil Co. Ltd. (ASX: ROC.ax) said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange that the project, due to start production in the first quarter of 2006, would be more expensive due to "industry-wide cost pressures".
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The new estimate is in excess of a potential 10 percent uplift in costs that project operator Woodside warned of in April, when it cited extra drilling costs as a problem.
Chinguetti, which will be Woodside's first oil producing asset outside Australia, is thought to contain 123 million barrels of oil, with daily production forecast at up to 75,000 barrels.
Woodside booked total oil and gas revenue of A$1.23 billion ($946 million) in the six months to June 30.
The other partners in the Chinguetti project, in which Woodside has a 47 percent share, are Hardman Resources (ASX: HDR.ax) , the Mauritanian government, BG Group BG.L and Premier Group PMO.L.
Woodside's shares were last trading up 0.7 percent at A$32.36, compared with a 0.3 percent rise for the S&P/ASX 200 Energy Index. ($1=A$1.30)
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