The specialist catamaran MV Seawatch - which last month completed some pipeline survey work for the Pohokura project off north Taranaki - is now about half way through two rig site surveys for the Amokura and Pukeko wells that the Ocean Bounty is scheduled to drill from April.
New Zealand Overseas Petroleum's New Plymouth-based administrator, Neil Spedding, confirmed these details to EnergyReview.Net today.
The Ocean Bounty is currently drilling an Ichthys well in the Browse Basin off Western Australia for Japanese firm Inpex and partners. Following the completion of that well the rig is expected in Taranaki waters by late March or early April.
The Amokura-1 wildcat well is scheduled to spud first, followed by Pukeko-1 and, depending on results of that well, possibly a second well into the same Pukeko prospect.
An alternative third well, Kiwi-1, may be drilled instead of the second Pukeko if the results of Pukeko-1 are not encouraging enough, although New Zealand Oil and Gas exploration manager Eric Matthews has told ERN that there are a number of options available to the joint venture.
NZOP - a subsidiary of the Houston-based but Bermuda-registered Transworld Oil group of companies - operates the licence for NZOG subsidiary Stewart Petroleum and associate company Pan Pacific Petroleum NL, Australian Worldwide Exploration, and Mitsui and Co.
Last October Mitsui and NZOG signed a heads of agreement to meet a substantial portion of NZOG's costs of drilling two to three wells, and any initial field development costs within PEP38460, which contains the commercially-viable Tui discovery. If any development is subsequently approved, initial development costs will be approximately $US9.5m, with NZOG meeting 5% of those costs in respect of its retained 12.5% interest.
Mitsui is one of only a few Japanese companies currently involved in the Kiwi energy industry, following the departure of Inpex on the heels of ConocoPhillips after it relinquished the offshore Northland licence PEP 38602 in late 2002.
Also it is believed Maui-Pohokura operator Shell Todd Oil Services may pick up the Ocean Bounty after the PEP 38460 program to drill a wildcat in recently-acquired licence PEP 38452, north of Maui. This would fulfill a work program commitment the partners Shell NZ, Todd Energy and OMV Petroleum have with Crown Minerals.
