Roc Oil chief executive, John Doran said the budget increase was due to industry-wide cost pressures.
With production to start in the first quarter of 2006, the new estimate is in excess of the potential 10% rise in costs to US$687.5 million – due to extra drilling – that Woodside warned of in April.
As Woodside’s first oil producing asset outside of Australia, Chinguetti is predicted to contain 123 million barrels of oil, with early production estimated at up to 75,000 barrels per day.
Woodside recorded A$1.23 billion in total oil and gas revenue in the six months ending June 30 this year.
Project partners in Chinguetti are: Woodside (47.83%); Roc Oil (3.25%); Hardman Resources (19.01%); UK’s BG Group plc (10.23%); and Premier Oil Plc, also of the UK (8.12%) and the Mauritanian government (12%).
