Managing director Richard Tweedie said Mangahewa-3 was currently being tied-in as a producer.

"We are very pleased with the results of Mangahewa-3 and are definitely planning further wells - another two within the next year or two, depending on rig availability," Tweedie said.

In December, Tweedie said Mangahewa-3 had discovered "a lot more gas", although he declined to specify how much more had been found and in which intervals.

But Todd Energy says the field could contain up to 250 petajoules of undeveloped reserves - much more than previous owner Fletcher Challenge Energy's initial estimates of about 100PJ of recoverable gas.

Gas and liquids are separated at the Mangahewa-2 wellsite, with liquids processed at the nearby McKee production station. Mangahewa-2 currently produces from only one of several Eocene-aged tight gas intervals in the PMP 38150 lease.

Tweedie said Todd was considering "a whole suite of things" to enhance its 100% owned McKee and Mangahewa fields.

The company was now installing two small 2.5-3MW cogeneration units at the McKee production station, he said.

Most electricity generated would be used onsite, but some would be sold via the grid. All of the steam produced would be used onsite.

Todd is also considering LPG extraction, plus further power generation options.