It is understood that the Woodside-led Mauritanian venture, including Hardman, Roc and Fusion, have settled on a drillship for their drilling program, as opposed to the semi-submersible rig used for the initial discovery wells.
The Chinese discovery, made last month by a consortium led by Bligh Oil, hopes to maximise ideal drilling conditions over the Christmas period but were aiming to carry out further studies prior to that.
The drillship for the Woodside drilling will have some crude oil storage capacity so the all important production testing - omitted last time due to unsuitable equipment - will be carried out to calculate production rates and volumes.
Hardman director, Mr Scott Spencer, said there were two firm wells and two possible wells.
"One is an appraisal of the Chinguetti discovery and the other firm well is and exploration well to the north of the Chinguetti block, in Block Six.
"Shell drilled a discovery oil well in 1974 but missed the main sand which we can now see on modern seismic. It is a new play - hopefully it will prove up a new basin.
"The two other possible wells are concentrated towards the Chinguetti block, with another possible appraisal well if required and there is a nearby lead which we may see if we can tie in to any possible development around the Chinguetti field, providing it is successful," said Mr Spencer.
Bligh managing director, Mr Brent Emmett, said that while conditions were ideal for drilling over the Christmas break they had to weigh the excitement of following up the discovery with a cost effective approach towards drilling.
"While it is bitterly cold at that time of the year, the South China Sea is like a millpond and ideal for drilling," he said.
"While we'd like to get back up there and drill as soon as possible, the most economic approach is to drill a few wells and we don't know if we've got enough time to acquire and process new seismic, prioritise the leads and plan a well thought out drilling program.
"We'll know in a few weeks what our plans will be. We're all pretty keen I can tell you."
The partners are Roc, First Australian, Bligh and PetSec.
