Security alert in Mauritania!! Stock down about 13% in early trading. Assuming this blows over, could it be a buying oppotunity?

""could it be a buying oppotunity?""

Could be, or things could get worse before getting better

The main politcal concern in Mauritania is an invasion from neighbouring country

Mauri a poor country, has only a population of about 3 million so we can assume not much in line of defence

I sold about 80% of my holding last week at circa 92p, but that based was on a new fangled chart system that I devised
good luck

jal

gallick,

Thanks for the info, was a tad concerned for a moment there!

here are the real news.... TOP UP time

Army officers held in Mauritania


Ould Taya himself came to power in a coup
Several military officers are said to have been arrested in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott.
The government has not commented on the reports which link the detentions to a possible coup plot against President Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya.

President Taya survived a coup attempt in June 2003 which sparked off days of fighting in the capital.

The capital is reported to be calm, but some new secuity measures. Troops have also been confined to their barracks.

Sources have been talking about 18 officers being arrested and appear to be suggesting the involvement of Islamists.

Some 120 soldiers are still being held in prison awaiting trial following the failed coup last year.

President Taya took power in a bloodless coup in December 1984 and has been re-elected three times since.

To Coup or not to Coo.............?

Well Invasion, Coup, Civil unrest, the end result is that only Oil Companies know how to get the Oil out of the ground or sea.

Whoever is in power, they are beholding to the expertise of these companies.

I do not believe these investments are in peril because of these events.

It is not even making the National News on the BBC.

I have used it as a buying opportunity and am already up on the day.

how can people be frightened out of this and yet stick money into PET under far more serious conditions in Iraq?

eurofox,

A VERY good question!

(and I have a few PET, but do realise it's a total risk!)

LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Shares in British oil and gas company Premier Oil Plc fell on Tuesday amid tension in the African state of Mauritania, where the company has major projects.
Unconfirmed reports of a foiled putsch swirled round the capital of the coup-prone former French colony earlier this week.
Premier Oil shares were down 3.0 percent at 581 pence at 0823 GMT, one of the main losers in the FTSE 250 mid-cap index < .FTMC>.
A Premier Oil spokesman in London said the company was monitoring the situation in Mauritania, echoing similar comments from Australian energy firms Hardman Resources and Woodside Petroleum , which also operate in the country.
Despite the situation in Mauritania, Numis Securities kept a "buy" rating on Premier Oil, arguing that its offshore drilling programme was unlikely to be affected in the short-term.
"At present, we see the tension as a temporary set back and retain our buy recommendation," Numis said in a research note.


Also SEY and Woodside have gone up since the big drop this morning

Hi, I just sold my EEN for a lost of 25% I used the money to top up HNR. Wait and see going back up again as the situations develops for the better. I suggest you also follow PMO prices too for a better indication of the situation.

LOOKING GOOD SO FAR

Company Reports (Consolidated)
Annual Interim
Period Covered 6 Months 6 Months
Report Currency (AUD) (AUD)

Report Type Prelim Prelim

Profit & Loss 31Dec03 % Change 31Dec02

Revenue 4.17m 62.59 2.57m
Total Income 4.17m 62.59 2.57m
Operating Costs 15.00m
~Depreciation 0.75m 297.89 0.19m
Operating Result (10.83m) - 2.57m
Pretax Profit/Loss (10.83m) -929.99 (1.05m)
Net Profit/Loss (10.83m) -929.99 (1.05m)
Net Attributable (10.83m) -929.99 (1.05m)
Retained Profit/Loss (10.83m) -929.99 (1.05m)

Balance Sheet-Assets

Total Current Assets 35.04m -23.50 45.8m
~Cash & Equivalents 30.91m -27.40 42.58m
~Receivables 2.31m 20.29 1.92m
Fixed Assets 93.31m 57.66 59.18m
Total Assets 128.35m 22.26 104.98m

Balance Sheet-Liabilities

Total Liabilities 8.87m 117.26 4.08m
~Current Liabilities 8.68m 112.45 4.08m
~Deferred Liabilities 0.2m
Shareholders Equity 119.48m 18.41 100.9m

Oh look!

A recovery is on the way after one day!!

Stay in there guys.

Oh look,,, what seawallwalker! whats the news?

Hope this answers all.

A load of nothing as predicted.

I hope you all bought at the low!

Hardman Resources Limited
11 August 2004




STOCK EXCHANGE / MEDIA RELEASE

RELEASE DATE: 11 August 2004

CONTACT: Scott Spencer (08 9321 6881)

RE: MAURITANIA UPDATE

PAGES: 1

Hardman Resources Ltd advises that Woodside's staff and contractors in
Mauritania have returned to work and the company has resumed travel to the West
African country following yesterday's reports that several military personnel
had been arrested.

Work resumed on Tuesday (Mauritanian time). The situation in the capital is
described as calm with business continuing as normal.

Hardman and its partners will continue to monitor the situation.





SCOTT SPENCER
DIRECTOR

i topped up yesterday.

Buyers day today.

Dare say some of those who bailed yesterday are coming back in.

This is what it was all about.

As I said, a load of nothing.

Take the money when it's offered I say!

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/10/1092102448459.html

Crackdown hits Mauritania venture
By Barry FitzGerald
Resources Editor
August 11, 2004

Nervous investors yesterday wiped a total of $435 million from the market value of the Woodside-led Australian contingent heading up Mauritania's first oil development.

The sharp sell-off in Woodside, Hardman and Roc Oil was prompted by reports of a security crackdown by Mauritania's coup-wary Government.

The crackdown on Monday by the pro-Western Islamic state was viewed as a pre-emptive strike against plotting by disaffected military elements and radical Islamists to seize power from President Maaouya Ould Taya.

There was no official confirmation of the crackdown but one news agency reported 27 soldiers had been arrested, including a cousin of the main player in a failed coup in June last year.

Unlike last year's coup attempt, there were no reports of gun or tank battles in the dusty streets of the capital, Nouakchott.

But Woodside took the security scare seriously enough to suspend travel to the country "until the situation becomes clearer".

Woodside said that reports from its staff in the country and various diplomatic sources indicated that the situation in the capital was calm.

The group's staff and 20 contractors associated with the $US600 million ($A837 million) Chinguetti oil project were ordered to stay at home pending the all-clear.

Woodside said that, while it was not entirely sure what was going on, it was able to report that life in Nouakchott was proceeding normally.

It said it did not expect any impact on the joint venture's plan to start a big-spending drilling program in the waters offshore Mauritania later this month or early next month.

Hardman director Scott Spencer said security crackdowns on what the Mauritanian Government considered subversive elements were not all that uncommon.

"We can't be sure but we are hopeful it will blow over fairly quickly," Mr Spencer said.

Woodside shares fell 30 to $18.69 yesterday, with the security scare in Mauritania more than offsetting the benefits flowing to the group from the surge in oil prices to record levels.

Hardman dived 33 to $1.97. Mauritania is the group's key asset. Roc, which has a much smaller interest in the project, was down 7 to $1.68.

The joint venture gave the go-ahead for the Chinguetti project in late May. First production is due in March 2006 and the partnership is in the early planning stages to follow it up with the development of the much bigger Tiof oilfield, possibly as early as mid-2007.

The interests of the Australian partners are: Woodside 53.846 per cent, Hardman 21.6 per cent, and Roc Oil 3.693 per cent.
END
AR

Dana bounced today, but HNR did not. The share price feels a bit fragile to me although there could of course be a big bounce around the corner. Perhaps it is because positive drilling news may be some way away (most being earmarked for 2005 and 2006).

rgrds
gk

The start of the drilling begins towards the end of this month. News flows will be come thick and fast. I have the feeling , and so IC and shares that this alone will drive the sp. As stated several times by IC and Shares and few weekend newspaper article. A safer blue sky and true potential than DES or even PCI. IMHO.

From oilbarrel.com today.

Sums up all our hopes and prospects.

Chances are better than 1 in 2 of finding more oil and or gas in Mauritannia.

Read the full report.



13.08.2004
Attempted Coup Jangles Investor Nerves But Mauritania Explorers Report
Business As Usual
Reports earlier this week of an attempted coup in Mauritania, the latest deepwater darling of the international oil industry, knocked the share prices of companies with heavy exposure to the North West African country. Among those to suffer from investor fright on Tuesday were London-listed Premier Oil, which slipped 4p to 595p, Hardman Resources, down 8.75p to 81.25p, and Dana Petroleum, which retreated 15.5p to 324p.

However, the fright was short lived. By Wednesday, the Mauritanian defence minister Baba Ould Sidi said the situation was under control.

"The attempted coup d'etat has been foiled and the putschists have been arrested, the minister said in a recorded message on state radio. Between 20 and 30 members of the army were reported to have been arrested.

The minister said the plotters were the very same people who led the aborted putsch in June last year" and that they had planned to topple President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya while he was away in France.

Tensions have edged up in the past year and the government has clamped down on Islamist groups, who remain highly critical of its diplomatic relations with Israel. The government blamed Islamists for the June 2003 coup attempt, which saw two days of fierce fighting in the capital Nouakchott in the most serious challenge to date to the rule of President Taya, who took power in a bloodless coup in December 1984. Some 120 soldiers are still being held in prison over that alleged plot.

Woodside Energy, the leader of the main exploration group in Mauritania, put out a statement on Wednesday to say that its staff and contractors in Mauritania had returned to work and resumed travel to the country.

The situation in the capital is described as calm with business continuing as normal, the company said.

Despite the inevitable flutter of investor nerves at news of the coup attempt, most observers agree that the business of developing and extracting Mauritanias black gold will be largely undisturbed by any onshore instability because the main oil and gas riches lie 75 km offshore. That has certainly been the case in Cote dIvoire where ongoing political turbulence has failed to disrupt its offshore production, or Angola, where multi-million dollar projects continued despite the long-running civil war, which ended in 2002, and in Nigeria it is the onshore oil supplies that suffer from sabotage and disruption - the country deepwater finds are unperturbed by the strife inland.

The main risk lies in any changes to the commercial terms which a new government might impose. Yet, as international explorers like to point out, even safe home-grown production can be subject to unexpected changes to the petroleum regime: British Chancellor Gordon Browns North Sea tax hike in 2002 being a case in point.

And the potential prize on offer is such that the oil companies are likely to remain committed to coup-prone Mauritania for many years yet to come. The assets are world-class in scale, with the proven and probable reserve base of the Chinguetti and Tiof oil deposits adding up to just over 100 million barrels and the Banda gas find also looking substantial. And it looks like theres plenty more where that came from: to date, exploration drilling by the Woodside-led joint venture has racked up a 100 per cent strike rate in the Miocene channel system - Ted Ellyard, the bullish managing director of Hardman Resources, reckons the risk factor on the Miocene prospects is now “better than a one in two chance of success - while Danas Pelican-1 gas find has also opened up the possibility of reserves outlying the core Woodside acreage.

Work is already underway to progress the Chinguetti find towards first production by the end of 2005 at a rate of 75,000 barrels per day. Tiof, which could dwarf Chinguetti in size, could be onstream 18 months later. Further exploration work this summer and autumn could well add further world-beating discoveries to Mauritanias rapidly growing oil and gas base.

Any ideas why this is falling out of bed?