PEP 38722 operator Discovery Geo (Australia) Corporation released the OD & E Rig 19 last Friday after plugging and abandoning its Rahotu-1 well, which was drilled to its 3065m target depth but failed to find any significant hydrocarbons in the targeted shallow Mount Messenger and Moki formations.

The OD & E rig then moved further inland and north to drill the Surrey-2 appraisal well in licence PEP 38734 for 100% owner and operator Westech Energy New Zealand.

Westech president Ed Davies confirmed to EnergyReview.Net from Denver today that Surrey-2 was soon due to spud from the same wellsite as the (discovery) Surrey-1 well, which last December flowed 116 barrels of oil and 1.26 million cubic feet of gas per day, with no water, through a 1/4 inch choke. This was from a 25m-thick reservoir around the 1935m mark within the Miocene-aged Mount Messenger sands.

Surrey-1 is presently linked in to NGC Holdings' pipeline system and flowing about one Petajoule of gas a year