DRILLING

High hopes for continued Taranki success rate

The fourth well in the current west Maui campaign, Kiwi-1, has spudded amid high expectations tha...

High hopes for continued Taranki success rate

PEP 38460 partner New Zealand Oil & Gas told the ASX and NZSX today that Kiwi-1 spudded on Sunday and was at a depth of 222m at 6am.

A secondary objective, the Cretaceous North Cape Formation would be targeted, in addition to the main Eocene-aged Kapuni F sands. “It is possible that a substantial stratigraphic trap could be present in this deeper zone,” NZOG said.

The Kapuni F sands - in which oil had already been discovered in the nearby Tui, Amokura and Pateke wells - were expected to be encountered at a depth of about 3700m. The North Cape formation was expected to be struck at 4250m.

“There is more to deepening this well than just feeling lucky. We either did not see this play with the previous wells or did not think we would have encountered it. But we better know what’s going on with Kiwi, it’s further down the flank, and so we have decided to test what could prove to be a very large structure,” NZOG exploration manager Eric Matthews told EnergyReview.Net from Sydney.

It was expected the Bounty would take about two weeks to complete drilling the well.

Matthews declined to confirm industry speculation that operator Transworld, through its New Zealand Overseas Petroleum subsidiary, is able to drill so fast because it’s not using intermediate casing.

However, commentators say that is the case. Although not used before in New Zealand waters, this type of drilling has been practiced for almost a decade in some North West Shelf wells. While not suitable for rank wildcats, it offers substantial cost savings for other offshore wells.

TOPICS:

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the energy sector, brought to you by the Energy News Bulletin Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the energy sector, brought to you by the Energy News Bulletin Intelligence team.

editions

ENB CCS Report 2024

ENB’s CCS Report 2024 finds that CCS could be the much-needed magic bullet for Australia’s decarbonisation drive

editions

ENB Cost Report 2023

ENB’s latest Cost Report findings provide optimism as investments in oil and gas, as well as new energy rise.

editions

ENB Future of Energy Report 2023

ENB’s inaugural Future of Energy Report details the industry outlook on the medium-to-long-term future for the sector in the Asia Pacific region.

editions

ENB Cost Report 2021

This industry-wide report aims to understand current cost levels across the energy industry