Editing Politics of Mauritania (section)

===Dispute with Woodside Petroleum===
In February 2006, the new Mauritanian government denounced amendments to an oil contract made by former Leader Ould Taya with [[Woodside Energy|Woodside Petroleum]], an Australian company. In 2004, Woodside had agreed to invest $US 600 million in developing Mauritania's [[Chinguetti oil field|Chinguetti offshore oil project]]. The controversial amendments, which Mauritanian authorities declared 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]]''. Signed by Woodside two weeks after the February 1, 2005, legislation authorizing the four amendments, they provided for a lower state quota in the ''[[profit-oil]]'', and reduced taxes by 15 percent in certain zones. They also eased [[Environmental policy|environmental]] constraints and extended the length and scope of the exploitation and exploration [[monopoly]], among other measures.  

The disputed amendments were signed by former Oil Minister Zeidane Ould Hmeida in February 2004 and March 2005. Hmeida was arrested in January 2006 on charges of "serious crimes against the country's essential economic interests".  

Nouakchott's authorities declared that the government would likely seek international arbitration, which Woodside (which operated for Hardman, [[BG Group]], Premier, [[ROC Oil]], [[Fusion (oil company)|Fusion]], [[Petronas]], [[Dana Petroleum]], [[Energy Africa]] and the [[Hydrocarbons Mauritanian Society]]) also contemplated.  

Discovered in 2001, Chinguetti has proven reserves of about {{convert|120000000|oilbbl}} of oil. At the end of December 2005, authorities estimated that in 2006, the oil profits would be  47 billion ''[[Mauritanian ouguiya|ouguiyas]]'' (about US$180 million) and represent a quarter of the [[Government budget|state budget]], according to ''[[Radio France International|RFI]]''.<ref>{{cite news | title=Mauritania and firm row over oil | work=BBC News | date=February 6, 2006 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4684836.stm}}{{cite news | title=Crise ouverte avec la compagnie pétrolière Woodside | publisher=Radio France International | date=February 6, 2006 | url=http://www.rfi.fr/actufr/articles/074/article_41704.asp}}</ref>