“The Australian audience understands Australia and has grown to understand Mauritania, but it is wary of other African projects,” Doran told EnergyReview.net.

“Woodside’s standing as the 800lb gorilla in the local community has certainly given our Mauritania operations credence, but Australians are still cautious about other parts of West Africa. However, many London investors see West Africa as one of the places to be.”

Roc is a 3.2% partner in Chinguetti, offshore Mauritania. Woodside has a 47.4% stake and is the operator. The other partners are Hardman Resources 19%, BG group companies 10.2%, Premier group 8.1% and the Mauritanian government's entity, Groupe Projet Chinguetti, 12%.

Chinguetti is a major discovery and is currently being developed for production, but in net terms to Roc, the much more modest Cliff Head discovery in the offshore Perth Basin (Roc 37.5%and operator) is worth more. Both projects come onstream in the first half of next year and Roc expects to get 4000 BOPD in early production from Cliff Head, compared to 2400 BOPD from Chinguetti.

“The market wants to see another discovery in a large field where Roc has a significant equity of close to 20% or upwards,” Doran said.

In its deepwater offshore Equatorial Guinea blocks, Roc has an 18.75% interest (free carried to 15%). A well, Aleata-1, is being planned but is still subject to joint venture approval.

The company’s onshore Angola block is of more interest. Roc has a 60% stake in this block, which it could farm out down to 40%.

“Angola has earned a reputation as a really oily place,” Doran said.

“But civil war has meant there has been no onshore drilling for 34 years, which means onshore Angola has been preserved in aspic.”

Roc, the only small independent oil company operating in Angola, will begin acquiring seismic on the ground in Cabinda, Angola next month. The company is likely to start drilling next year or in 2007 at the latest, Doran said.

“Our operations will be a milestone for the country,” he said.

“There has been a lot of activity offshore, but no one has touched the time capsule onshore. The odds are anything we find will be in the tens of millions of barrels but a field in the adjacent Congo has been defined as having several hundred million barrels, so there is a small chance of a really big find.”