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Hardman is a partner in two Mauritanian joint ventures, one led by Woodside Petroleum, the other by Dana Petroleum.
“Hardman is well placed to be a significant stakeholder in any development given its equity position in all gas discoveries to date and in the planned 2006 wells,” the company said.
“Other Mauritanian joint venture participants are substantial players in the global gas business, notably BG [formerly British Gas], Woodside, Petronas and Gaz de France.
“The forecast increased worldwide LNG demand and pricing are both positive for the economics of a potential LNG project in Mauritania. However, significant hurdles remain, particularly in respect of resource volumes and appropriate fiscal terms.”
A likely threshold for an LNG development in Mauritania would be around 4 trillion cubic feet, Hardman said.
The Banda oil and gas discovery, drilled by the Woodside joint venture, is thought to contain about 2.4 tcf of gas and the Flamant prospect, due to be drilled in Block 8 this year by the Dana-led JV, could have up to 5 tcf.
Flamant-1 is the largest of several carbonate platform/reef plays in Block 8, which differ significantly from the channel sands targeted in the rest of the offshore Mauritanian basin.
“The operator’s assessment of the Flamant prospect suggests it has the potential to contain about 5 tcf or 1 billion barrels of oil,” Hardman said.
“If successful, it would upgrade a number of smaller plays totalling a similar recoverable volume in the immediate vicinity.”
The Dana-led JV also discovered a gross gas column of about 370m at the Pelican-1 well in 2003 and a modest gas find at Faucon-1 last year.
While Faucon-1 found only a 10m wet gas column, it proved the existence of a mature source rock considerably to the south of the proven source kitchen region, according to Hardman.
In addition, the penetration of 96m of Cretaceous sand, more than any other recent well, proved the reservoir potential of this interval, enhancing regional prospectivity and encouraging further exploration of this block, the company said.
