White Nile Sudan JV details unlikely Friday – source

LONDON, Feb 25, 2005 (Dow Jones) — London-listed oil company White Nile Ltd.(WNL.LN) isn’t likely to issue details of its controversial joint oil venture with the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement, a person close to the situation said Friday.

Last week the company said in a statement it would provide an update on the agreement this week. The SPLM is set to form the interim government of southern Sudan later this year.

“There are final things to do that would suggest (White Nile) wouldn’t be making definitive announcements before the end of the day,” said a person familiar with the matter.

In a statement last Friday, the oil exploration firm said it “had concluded an agreement with the Government of South Sudan to acquire a 60% interest in the 67,500 square kilometer Block Ba.”

A White Nile spokesman wasn’t immediately available for comment.

The block was previously held by France’s Total SA (TOT), which disputes the legality of the deal.

Previously a spokesman for White Nile had said that the company hadn’t released the full details of the agreement because it was “awaiting clearance regarding the structure of the deal with the London Stock Exchange.”

A person familiar with the matter at the LSE said that the complexity of the deal was such that it “requires information similar to another IPOprospectus.”

A spokesman for the LSE said it was up to the company to decide on its own timing for the statement but if no press release comes by1800 GMT Friday, it was unlikely to come during the weekend.

A company spokesman has previously said the two founders of White Nile, former England cricketer Phil Edmonds and mining entrepreneur Andrew Groves are in talks with other African governments to strike similar agreements.