Potter told a Corporate File Opening Briefing that Hardman and Woodside believed there were “around a billion barrels of oil in place at Tiof”.

Woodside’s Contingent Resources statement for Tiof on 31 December 2004 implied a recovery rate of about 29% but Potter said he thought this could be boosted.

“Since that assessment date we’ve undertaken a lot more appraisal of the discovery, including the most recent flow test,” he said.

“How much we recover is a function of the efficiency of the development scheme chosen. Although it’s fair to say that the Tiof reservoir is a relatively complex reservoir, I think the joint venture partners would be hopeful to lift that implied recovery number given the large volume of oil in place.”

He said it was too early to discuss the value of Tiof. The value of field would depend on recoverable reserves, oil prices when production started, the timing of the development and overall development costs, according to Potter.

The costs would depend on the development concept chosen by the joint venture partners, which remained to be decided.

“I suspect that it is most likely to be an FPSO, but the key variables in determining ultimate value will be the type and number of development wells required,” Potter said.

The next steps in determining the project parameters, including the amount of recoverable oil, would be to carry out further reservoir tests.

“I would like to see more than a further single well test ahead of deciding the development plan,” Potter said. “We anticipate that an additional well test will be incorporated into the 2005 drilling program.”

The partners had still not decided on the forward plan for Tiof, Potter told Corporate File.

“I would like to see further well tests to help guide the decision and anticipate the next one around mid year. Therefore it is unlikely there will be an investment decision before late 2005,” he said.

The joint venture partners have two world-class rigs contracted for 2005, according to Potter.

“Development of Chinguetti is underway, we will continue appraising Tiof and we intend to appraise Tevet,” he said.

“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.”

Potter said the Mauritanian fields have been a company maker for Hardman. They had grown its market cap from about $330m to $1.2bn, and the company was now fully funded through to first production from Chinguetti in 2006.