The rig, which was last in service several years ago at Western Australia’s Barrow Island, arrived yesterday at the New Plymouth port aboard the 4086-tonne BBC Iceland, which sailed from Barry Beach in Victoria.

Greymouth chief operating officer John Sturgess told PetroleumNew.net the rig would operate in New Zealand as Greymouth Drilling Rig 2. It was scheduled to spud the Moturoa-5 well at the port.

“Rig refurbishment could take up to a month, as this rig has been stacked for quite a few years,” Sturgess said.

“We then hope the unit will be taken over by Bonus Drilling New Zealand, a new local drilling company.”

Moturoa-5 is due to be drilled onshore Port Taranaki and deviated out under the seabed, targeting multiple objectives down to the Miocene-aged Moki Formation.

These objectives will be inside and outside the port boundary, according to Sturgess.

The maximum target depth was likely to be about 2600m.

Sturgess declined to give any pre-drill estimates of likely recoverable reserves, though the historic Moturoa oil field has never produced any modern-day gushers.

Liquids flows are likely to be only tens, or possibly hundreds, of barrels of oil per day. But such flows should be economic, given the high price of oil, and the nearby port, with its petroleum export facilities, and the neighbouring tank farm.

Two years ago, Grant Geophysical acquired three square kilometres of inshore 3D seismic data within the port boundaries for Greymouth.

Greymouth operates licence PEP 38464, which covers both onshore and offshore areas and includes the Moturoa field, and holds 98% equity. Local Maori group Ngati Te Whiti Hapu Society owns the remaining interest.

The Moturoa field was among the first commercial fields in the British Empire and produced about 250,000 barrels of oil over several decades before it was closed in 1972.