“There are a record number of wells, both petroleum and geothermal, planned for 2005 and a high number of rigs working, but there are not enough trained personnel at present to cope with such a heavy workload,” the former occupational safety and health man told EnergyReview.Net in New Plymouth before leaving for Western Australia.

“One of the last things I was involved with for OSH was holding discussions with drilling companies on the options available for adequately training new rig personnel. One possibility is setting up a small training rig, perhaps in New Plymouth, where new entrants to the exploration industry can gain the experience necessary to work on live wells.”

Ovens said the NZ exploration industry went through a “black patch” about 10 years ago, with the country’s first significant blowout – the McKee-13 well blowout – and then three drilling deaths on three different rigs in the space of about six weeks.

“Fortunately, since I have been chief inspector, no one has been killed or even maimed, although there have been some broken bones – that’s pretty good given the hazardous nature of the exploration industry,” he said.

Ovens – who gained his first taste of exploration life while working as a roughneck on rigs during his university days – said the NZ exploration industry would be stretched coping with the workload resulting from the record number of rigs and record number of wells due during 2005.

In addition to the existing land-based rigs, the Pohokura partners are bringing in a big Oil Drilling and Exploration (Borneo) Pty rig from South East Asia for the onshore Pohokura wells; a jack-up is scheduled to arrive for the offshore Pohokura wells; Mighty River Power and others are bringing in another OD & E rig from WA for geothermal drilling; and the Ocean Bounty semi-submersible and another rig may return for drilling at the Maui A platform.

Ovens – who has been involved in about 300 well programs and designs over the past 30 years – is moving to Perth to become a senior safety consultant/team leader with the Safety and Risk Practice company.

He said he was looking forward to working in a bigger industry, with bigger companies, than in New Zealand, but there are also the welcome synergies between the two countries, with many Australian explorers already involved in trans-Tasman activities.