Mauritania oil consortium bypasses ECAs

(Business Law News, New Zealand, 10 January 2006) Hardman Resources, an independent Australian oil exploration firm, has secured a US$100m seven-year financing to fund its share of the US$500m development costs of the offshore Chinguetti oil field in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Without any foreign government or Export Credit Agency underwriting of the financing, this project follows an increasingly common trend whereby the private sector is moving into markets and risk management traditionally limited to official ECAs.