Production has begun from the Woodside-operated Chinguetti oil project in Mauritania, West Africa.

The hook-up, testing and commissioning of the floating production storage and offloading facility, Berge Helene – about 90km south-west of the capital Nouakchott – has been completed and over the coming weeks production is expected to increase steadily. The project has a maximum production rate of about 75,000 barrels per day.

Chinguetti, which is operated by Woodside Mauritania Pty. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Woodside Petroleum Ltd., is within the Chinguetti Exploitation Perimeter in Production Sharing Contract Area B.

The development involved capital expenditure of about US$720 million and comprises six production wells, five wells for water re-injection and one for gas re-injection.

The field, which has estimated reserves of about 120 million barrels, was discovered in 2001. Berge Helene is a 275,000-tonne vessel moored in about 800 metres of water. The vessel has a storage capacity of 1.6 million barrels.

Participating interests in the Chinguetti Joint Venture are: Company Chinguetti Joint Venture Woodside group companies (Operator) 47.38448% Hardman group companies 19.00800% Société Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures [formerly GPC] 12.00000% BG group companies 10.23440% Premier group companies 8.12328% Roc Oil group companies 3.24984%