Company chief financial officer Bruce McGregor told EnergyReview.net today that the Ensign International Energy Services Rig 19 had reached its 1450m target depth in the Miocene-aged Mount Messenger-Moki formations at Heaphy-1 in licence PEP 38746.
The PEP 38746 partners are Austral (operator 66.67%), and Tap New Zealand (33.33%), butTap is withdrawing from onshore Taranaki to concentrate on its offshore Taranaki and offshore Canterbury interests.
McGregor said the company’s next wells were likely to be the Cheal-B1 appraisal well later this quarter in nearby licence PEP 38738, followed by either Cheal-B2 or Ratanui-1 in PEP 38741.
Drilling in onshore Taranaki this year by various companies has produced a string of disappointing results.
Austral’s last two shallow onshore wells – Supplejack-1 and Supplejack South-1 in PEP 38765 – had mixed results. Supplejack-1 encountered a small oil play, while Austral and Perth-headquartered Tap Oil withdrew from Supplejack South-1, leaving Canada’s TAG Oil to test that well on its own.
