Australian Worldwide Exploration confirmed the southern extension yesterday, with managing director Bruce Phillips saying it was another piece to the puzzle of the emerging oil trend the partners had identified in the area.
“Exploration activity in the western Taranaki Basin over the last 12 months has highlighted the oil potential of the area, particularly after the discovery of the Tui oil field, and more recently the Amokura oil field.
“In isolation, the acreage expansion is not a major addition to AWE’s interests in New Zealand. However it is another piece in the jigsaw puzzle to secure exploration and production rights in the emerging oil trend.”
The expansion incorporates the Te Whatu prospect, situated approximately 15 km south of the Pukeko-1 well that the Ocean Bounty rig is due to spud next week.
Phillips said AWE had worked systematically over the last year to secure the most prospective acreage covering the oil fairway, to the extent that it was now the dominant acreage holder along the trend. This was achieved through two acreage expansions to PEP38460 (AWE 20% equity) and new licence PEP 38483 (AWE operator and 75% equity).
Meanwhile, as EnergyReview.Net said on Monday, success at Amokura-1 has greatly enhanced prospects of a “twin” Tui-Amokura development proceeding quickly, given the close proximity and excellent reservoir characteristics of the two fields. It is also known the partners having already approved contingent development expenditures for Tui-Amokura.
As well, the nearby Pateke and Kiwi prospects, which were delineated by last year’s Tui 3D seismic survey, have been found to be similar in size and style to Tui and Amokura. Pateke and Kiwi can also be tied in to any joint development project as they are within 4-8 km of Tui-Amokura.
As site surveys have already been done over both Pateke and Kiwi prospects in readiness for drilling, it is likely the PEP 38460 partners will exercise their option to utilise the Ocean Bounty for a third well - after it has drilled the Takapou-1 well in PEP 38482 for Shell NZ, Todd Energy and OMV. It is not known, however, if Pateke or Kiwi is the preferred prospect.
