Sydney-headquartered AWE this morning said the semi-submersible Ocean Patriot drilling rig was, at 6am today, cementing the 13 3/8-inch casing at a measured depth of 1495m.
During the past week, the 17½-inch hole was drilled from 229m to 1495m, giving total progress of 1266m.
The well, which spudded last Wednesday in water 122m deep, has a planned total depth of 3600m. Drilling is expected to take 18 days on a trouble-free basis.
Tieke-1 is only about 8km from the Tui oil pool and is in the Tui Area licence, PMP 38158, roughly 40km offshore.
Following completion of operations at Tieke-1, the Ocean Patriot will start drilling the first of four development wells on the $US225 million ($A292 million) Tui Area oil project.
The PMP 38158 partners are AWE with a 42.5% stake, New Zealand Oil & Gas (through its subsidiary Stewart Petroleum) (12.5%), Mitsui E & P New Zealand (35%) and Pan Pacific Petroleum (10%).
