Waitara police have confirmed they were recently called to the inland Ohanga site where Todd Petroleum and Greymouth staff were disputing access to the locked compound, according to a Taranaki Daily News report.
The wellsite was also subject to an interim High Court injunction gained by Greymouth in an attempt to keep out Todd Petroleum, which claims access rights to the site, said the paper, which also reported Todd Petroleum's incursion into the lease.
EnergyReview.net understands the dispute centred around who had the right to re-enter and/or redrill the Ohanga-1 and 2 wells.
The surface location of both wells is in the Greymouth Petroleum licence PEP 38762, but the bottom-hole location of Ohanga-2 is believed to be in the Todd-owned Mangahewa mining licence PMP 38150.
Todd previously held an exploration permit, which expired in early 2003, over the disputed land, including a lease of the Ohanga wellsite. Greymouth claimed that lease has now expired, but Todd has said it had the right of renewal.
The vertical Ohanga-1 well, drilled in 1990, encountered some good gas and condensate flows but was not tested, while the deviated Ohanga-2 well, drilled in 1998, flowed up to 3.5 mmscf/d of gas, probably from over-pressured Eocene-aged Kapuni sands, industry sources told ERN.
Todd Energy managing director Richard Tweedie has refused to comment, saying it would be inappropriate to do so as the matter was now before the courts.
Greymouth chairman Mark Dunphy has said his company obtained the interim injunction because it might want to drill the site and did not want any existing wells plugged with cement and abandoned.
The High Court is scheduled to hear the substance of Greymouth’s injunction in August.
Greymouth is said to be planning to release the Parker Drilling Rig 246 from the nearby Turangi-1 well without even testing the well. Industry sources said the company may want to re-enter, re-complete or sidetrack the Ohanga wells before the PEP 38762 licence expired next March.
ERN last week reported the long-simmering dispute between Shell New Zealand and Todd Energy had spilled over into the courts, with Shell appealing against an interim injunction granted to Todd to stop Shell removing Shell Todd Oil Services as operator of the possible NZ$1 billion Pohokura gas project.
