But the Australian jojnt venture partners partners – operator Woodside, Hardman and Roc Oil – say the dispute does not affect the Chinguetti oil field development, which is due to start first production next month.

Last week, Woodside was named in accusations of fraud and corruption against former Mauritanian oil minister Zeidane Ould Hmedia.

Reuters reported that prosecutors claimed an amendment to a production sharing contract with Woodside that Hmeida signed in December 2004 reduced the share paid to the Mauritanian state.

But Woodside said it negotiated, on behalf of its joint venturers, the amendments to PSCs A, B, C2 and C6 with the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and were approved by the former Mauritanian Government, before becoming law last year.

Woodside said it was confident the amendments were “proper, valid and binding.”

The company also said that if the dispute could not be resolved through discussion, the parties were likely to begin arbitration under the contract terms.

Woodside operates the Chinguetti joint venture and the four offshore production sharing contracts on behalf of several joint venturers, including Hardman, Roc Oil, BG Premier, Petronas, Dana Petroleum, Energy Africa and the Government owned Societe Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures.

Some Mauritanians are claiming Hmeida did not behave improperly and the charges are designed to settle old grudges. The rule of law is weak in Mauritania and neither the current government nor the regime it replaced were democractically elected.