Bennett told EnergyReview.Net today that he had high hopes for the Cheal field in licence PEP 38738.
"The good results obtained from the initial flow test on the Cheal-1 well last month have given us the confidence that the second production test will be completed in much less time than the month timeframe we first anticipated.
"We also now believe Cheal, which is a gas reservoir with basement oil, has the potential to be bigger than Kahili."
Last Friday Indo-Pacific announced arrangements to sell all gas and LPGs produced from the Kahili field, in licence PEP 38736, to NGC. The Kahili partners - Indo-Pacific, Tap Oil and IRM - are to export and sell all condensate from the discovery Kahili-1B and any future wells. Development is expected to be completed by next March.
Kahili-1B is expected to contain at least 5 Petajoules of gas and the whole field considerably more than that.
Today Bennett added that if the second Cheal test, which is due to start in about two weeks, proved successful that should establish sufficient hydrocarbon reserves to confirm commercial development.
The re-entered Cheal-1 last month produced at rates of up to 4.5 million cubic feet of gas per day - more than twice that originally recorded in the mid-1990s. As testing progressed, an increasing amount of oil in the gas stream was indicated by a change in colour and smokiness of the flare, as well as a gradual decline in gas rates due to the heavier well stream. However, oil flow rates could not be established due to a lack of separation equipment.
This time separation facilities should enable sustainable rates for both oil and gas to be recorded.
The shallow oil and gas sands encountered at Cheal-1 are Miocene-aged formations and the testing of Cheal-2 and the drilling of a Cheal-3 well, higher on the structure, are still being considered.
Bennett said the Cheal wells were situated less than 7km from pipeline tie-in points and oil produced could easily be processed at Swift Energy's Waihapa production station.
Cheal could be brought into production from early next year, given ready markets for new gas in New Zealand's rapidly strengthening gas market.
In addition, Indo-Pacific and partners were due to spud the back-to-back wells Wawiri-1, in PEP 38753, and Bluff-1, in PEP 38746, from early September.
