positive points from today's corporate file

Hi all,

Some positive points from today's Corporate File.

We would usually expect the flow rate to increase considerably under more normal production conditions when we will have much larger storage facilities and can draw the well down harder. In Chinguetti for example we’re anticipating that we could roughly double the production rates compared with the test rates.
The flow rate indicated that we’ve got a better reservoir at Tiof than we first thought and that’s what underpins the higher flow rates.

The assets are nothing short of spectacular really. We have two world class rigs contracted for 2005. Development of Chinguetti is underway, we will continue appraising Tiof and we intend to appraise Tevet. We’ve yet to appraise Banda but it is a major gas discovery. We have an ongoing exploration program and we’re clearly hopeful of making some further significant discoveries.

We’ve committed over 50% of the project spend and we’re within 5% of the budget. Development drilling is underway and we are pleased with the initial well results. We’re still on track to produce the first oil by the end of the March quarter 2006.

We need to do at least a further appraisal well and probably a flow test at Tevet. But there is still a lot of geological and reservoir work we need to do before we site the appraisal well and determine whether it should be tied back to the FPSO. The whole channel system intrigues me. Banda sits on top of the channel, within a buried canyon. Tevet sits further down the same channel system which continues westward to become the reservoir at Chinguetti. Defining the separate limits of each of the fields is not simple and there may be more potential within the overall system than we recognize at present.

I’m particularly interested in our property in French Guyane. We hold over 97% equity in the license which covers some 65,000 sq km. In hydrocarbon terms it’s sandwiched between the offshore provinces of Trinidad and Venezuela and Brazil so it’s a good piece of real estate. We’ve traditionally dramatically farmed down our share, but in future I would like to see us maintain a higher equity stake (up to 40%). We’re now well over a billion dollar company, so can afford to retain higher equity and tolerate greater amounts of risk. As we bring in new partners we will look to swap assets rather than simply seek contributions to funding or a carry.

Whilst Mauritania has been a great success, it’s taken 10 years to mature and I’d like to see that cycle time reduced. That requires additional technical and commercial skills which we would like to bring into the company.


http://www.gtp.com.au/hardman/inewsfiles/1_March_-_Open_Briefing_MD_Potter_updates_Mauritania.pdf


Cheers,
xmagx