The Houston-based company's New Zealand subsidiary recently finished drilling Piakau North-A2 as a follow-up to the successful Piakau North-A1 discovery well drilled during the third quarter.
Company corporate development and investor relations director Scott Espenshade told EnergyReview.net that Swift Energy New Zealand was currently evaluating Piakau North-A2 to see if the well could be completed as a producer in the upper portion of the targeted Eocene-aged sands.
Swift had planned to take this well extensively downdip to see if an oil-water contact could be established that would help determine potential reservoir size, Espenshade said.
It now appeared such a contact had been encountered in the lower portion of the well, which had a target depth of about 3840m.
After flowing for several months, the Piakau North-A1 discovery well was now shut-in pending the evaluation of the reservoir as a potential oil field with a gas cap.
Espenshade declined to comment further, but it is known that Swift is currently perforating several upper zones with the intention of testing them to determine likely maximum flow rates.
Swift was now also drilling the Ahuroa South-B1 delineation well, significantly north of the Piakau discovery, to further delineate this reservoir
Espenshade confirmed the second and third deep gas wells to be drilled in association with downstream player Mighty River Power – Goss-A1 (in the Waihapa field area) and Trapper-A1 (in the Ahuroa field area) – were progressing well.
But he said these Tawn (Tariki, Ahuroa, Waihapa and Ngaere) field wells would not be finished until the first quarter of 2006.
Last September, Swift Energy said it was considering a Tawn facilities upgrade to enable more carbon dioxide rich gas to be processed to pipeline specification quality following good initial tests results from Piakau North-A1. Flows reached up to 7 million cubic feet of gas per day, with 400 barrels of associated condensate, but the gas had a 13% CO2 content.
The company’s New Zealand production for the September quarter increased from 11.7 to 12.9 billion cubic feet equivalent (bcfe) out of a total production figure of 44.9 bcfe.
