Late last month operator TAG Oil said it planned to case and test Radnor-1A after striking about 16m of gross gas-condensate pay in the Eocene-aged McKee sands.
But two incomplete cement jobs – to isolate the test zone from other intervals – had delayed any testing until next Tuesday at the earliest, TAG exploration manager Mark Webster told PetroleumNews.net this morning.
Earlier logs had showed the formation water-gas contact was at the bottom of the proposed test zone, but progress since had been slow.
“We did an initial remedial cement job but further logging showed we still had an incomplete bond. So we are conducting a second remedial cement squeeze to isolate the zone of interest from any underlying water zones,” Webster said from Wellington.
The original Radnor-1 well, north of Stratford, flowed at average rates of 6MMcfd of gas and 350bpd of condensate before watering out about two years ago.
Participants in the sidetrack operation, in the PMP 38157 lease, are operator TAG (33.33%) and Bridge Petroleum (33.33%), with TAG assuming another 33.33% interest on a sole-risk basis. Canadian-listed TAG is entitled to recover 15 times the cost of the sole-risk venture before any revenue reverts back to the partner that did not participate in the operation, Westech Energy New Zealand.
Methanex NZ paid for the first Radnor well to be drilled and still has first rights to gas from any subsequent wells to fuel its sole surviving New Zealand facility, the Waitara Valley methanol plant, which it restarted last month at full capacity and will operate until at least the end of the year.
