The Parker Drilling Rig 188 recently finished drilling the Waitui-1 well and is now being transported to Parker Drilling's New Plymouth premises, where it is believed it will be stacked until the next oil and gas or geothermal project.

Waitui-1, the first well drilled in licence PEP 51156, was to test a possible southern extension of the north Taranaki Mangahewa field. It was also the third and last well in Todd's current appraisal program.

Todd, New Zealand's largest private explorer, is believed to still be finishing a fracture stimulation program of the earlier drilled Mangahewa-6 appraisal well, as it did with Mangahewa-3 during 2008.

The unexpected success of Mangahewa-3 - which flowed about 25 million cubic feet per day of wet gas from just one interval in the Mangahewa sands within the greater Eocene-aged Kapuni formation - was the stimulus for the recent drilling program, which was designed to test the geographical and geophysical limits of the field.

Industry commentators believe there is some linkage between the near-shore Pohokura and onshore Turangi, Kowhai and Mangahewa fields, and that the greater Mangahewa structure could contain about 7 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Pohokura, New Zealand's largest gas field, still has proven and probable (2P) reserves of about 900 billion cubic feet of gas after 3.5 years of production of about 64Bcf per annum, though Todd managing director Richard Tweedie believes his company's Mangahewa find could eventually overtake Pohokura in terms of remaining recoverable reserves.

Meanwhile, Todd and fellow offshore Taranaki Maari partners Horizon Oil and Cue Energy Resources are gearing up to shoot some defining 3D seismic over the greater Matariki prospect in their licence PEP 51313, which lies south and west of the Maari oil field.

According to Cue, which holds a 20% stake in the licence, and Horizon, which holds 30%, they and operator Todd (50%) plan to shoot 200 square kilometres of new seismic in the next quarter.

PetroleumNews.net understands the partners are planning to utilise the Reflect Resolution (formerly Bergen Resolution) vessel which is currently working off the Wairarapa and Wanganui coasts, nearing the end of an extensive acquisition program over several frontier basins for the government's Crown Minerals Group.

Cue believes the Matariki structural trap has original oil in place (OOIP) of 366 million barrels, with mean estimates of 115MMbbl for oil and 38Bcf of gas. The Melbourne-headquartered company believes the larger Matariki stratigraphic play has 366MMbbl of OOIP, 116MMbbl of mean oil and 140Bcf of mean gas.

The more westerly Te Whatu prospect - with 302MMbbl OOIP, 97MMbbl of mean oil and 29Bcf of mean gas - should be subject to 2D seismic early next year.

Cue, Todd, Mosaic Oil and the government's Mighty River Power are due to make a decision in the third quarter on whether to drill the promising onshore Taranaki Te Kiri prospect.

Todd operates the coastal licence PEP 51149 with a 40% stake, while MRP holds 30%, Cue 20% and Mosaic 10%.

Te Kiri, which has already had 3D seismic shot over it, is a ready-to-drill prospect that could contain mean gas in place of 272Bcf, with mean recoverable gas reserves of 168Bcf and 5.6MMbbl of associated condensate.