Australian hunt for African oil

The quantities of oil at Chinguetti are unknown

An Australian consortium has started exploration drilling at the Chinguetti oilfield off the coast of Mauritania, Perth-based company Hardman Resources has announced.

The drilling is expected to confirm the presence of 95 million barrels, the company said - a significant find for a small explorer and impoverished country but a relatively small field by international standards.

Chinguetti 4-5 is the first of four wells to be drilled this year.

The consortium consists of five companies: Hardman, which has a 21.6% stake, Woodside Mauritania (35%), AGIP Mauritania (35%), Fusion Oil & Gas (6%) and Rock Oil (2.4%).

Hardman managing director Ted Ellyard said results from the drilling would be available next week.

Australian interest

Meanwhile, Hardman is also due to begin oil exploration on Lake Albert in Uganda this month, Ugandan officials were quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

"Hardman should have started their seismic studies in April but the boat they had was not good enough. But now they have a better boat and within the month they should have started their seismic studies," head of oil exploration at Uganda's energy ministry Reuben Kashambuzi said.

He said Hardman was first licensed to explore for oil in Uganda in 1997 but pulled out three years later because of a drop in world oil prices.

It returned when prices stabilised and was relicensed in October 2001.

Australian oil companies are showing increasing interest in African oil, say experts.

"They tend to be small companies involved in high risk exploration - if they're successful a major would usually be offered stakes in their operations," said Paul Gamble from the Economist Intelligence Unit.

"They certainly don't have any involvement in the major oil exporters - Nigeria, Angola, Gabon," he said.