Woodside Hopeful on Mauritania Oil Despite Coup

Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL.AU) insisted Thursday that it will start pumping oil from its US$625 million Chinguetti development by March, despite a military uprising in Mauritania that shook investors in the Australian energy company.

Woodside said it is continuing “normal drilling operations” at Chinguetti after a junta overthrew Mauritania’s U.S.-allied President Maaoya Sid’Ahmed Ould Taya while he was abroad Wednesday.

“The project remains on track for production in March 2006,” a Woodside spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires.

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A bigger worry for investors is whether the new regime decides to alter the terms and conditions already agreed to by Woodside, said Deutsche Bank energy analyst John Hirjee.

“Will there be a change in fiscal terms? I think not, but we can’t discount it,” he told Dow Jones Newswires.

Schlumberger