Petronas, Partners Find Oil, Gas at Mauritania Well

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and its partners in the Banda field offshore of Mauritania found oil and gas at a well drilled at the site, said Roc Oil Co., an Australian partner in the venture.

Initial results from the Banda East-1B well indicated the probe found an 86-meter gross gas column and a 19-meter gross oil column, Sydney-based Roc said today in a statement. About 22 meters of the gas column and 7 meters of the oil column may be capable of production, it said.

The Banda field, located about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the coast, may hold between 1 trillion and 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, Paul McDade, chief operating officer of Tullow Oil Plc, a partner in the Banda venture, said in March. Gas found in Mauritania may be supplied to both north African and southern European markets, he said.

The partners intend to prepare the well to test the gas flow, Roc said today. There are no plans yet to test the oil section, it said.

The Banda field spans two license areas, both operated by Petronas, which bought Woodside Petroleum Ltd.'s Mauritanian business last year. Roc Oil, which owns 4.2 percent of the license area in which the well was drilled, gained as much as 0.7 percent in Sydney trading to 72 Australian cents at 3:30 p.m., off a low of 67.5 cents earlier in the session.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net