ould didi ould tajedine increases holdings in bkp, page-9

re: did you know wpl and hdr are american companie I emailed the writer of that article - this is the reply that I got back from him.....

What do you guys make of what he says? I'm not sure I really follow him.

My email -

G'day Wayne,

Can you please clarify a comment in the article about the Mauritanian coup on your website 4 Aug 2005. You stated towards the end of the article that "Next year, U.S. oil companies like Kerr McGee of Oklahoma will begin to pump oil from rigs off the Mauritanian and Western Saharan coasts.".

There are no US oil companies with joint venture interests in any exploration blocks or developments in Mauritania whatsoever.

Can you please clarify what you meant by this - was it misinformation or are you implying that US oil companies have intentions of buying in or taking over a company with interests in Mauritania. Alternatively you may be implying that they are involved in supplying services for the development?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
________________________________________

His reply....

Actually, both

As with the mineral business in Africa, these Australian companies have interlocking directorships with Americans. The other issue is the rival claims to off shore blocks: Mauritania, Sahrawi Arab Dem. Rep., and Morocco. These claims overlap and it wasn't by mistake that oil man James Baker III was the UN envoy and his girlfriend Margaret Tutwiler was US amb to Morocco. The other key is that those Australian companies are obscure and obviously fronting for the big guys -- this has also happened in the Gulf of Guinea and with a small company called Harken in Bahrain.

wm