The Chinguetti oilfield is an oil field located off the Mauritanian coast in 800 m water depth.
Relatively modest in size, originally estimated at 123 million barrels (19,600,000 m3), this deposit is nonetheless significant as the first commercial discovery of oil in the country, opening a new region for offshore petroleum exploration.
In November 2006 Woodside issued a statement cutting the field's 2P reserves to 53 million barrels (8,400,000 m3).
reference A smaller oil field, Tevet, was discovered in the same area in early 2005, and will probably developed as a satellite - meaning that it will be exploited by wells tied back to Chinguetti's platform.
However, in February 2006, the Mauritanian military junta led by Ely Ould Mohamed Vall denounced amendments to an oil contract made by former President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya with Woodside Petroleum, the controversial amendments, which Mauritanian authorities declared that they had been signed "outside the legal framework of normal practice, to the great detriment of our country", could cost Mauritania up to $200 million a year, according to BBC News.