New Zealand Oil and Gas - in its quarterly report to September - says Amokura-1, to be drilled only 4km from the Tui prospect, will be the first of perhaps three wells drilled in Taranaki waters for the PEP38460 partners from next March.
The Diamond Offshore Drilling rig Ocean Bounty, which drilled the Tui-1 discovery well last February, is likely to return to New Zealand waters for the program.
NZOG says Amokura has the potential to contain 15-35 million barrels of oil and that a discovery there, "even at the low end of this range, would trigger a decision to jointly develop Amokura and Tui, with first oil provisionally planned by mid-2005."
Company exploration manager Eric Matthews told EnergyReview.Net from Sydney this morning that the joint venture's plans currently centred around sub-sea completions and using a leased FPSO.
"Operator Transworld has been looking at a number of proposals, about half a dozen or so from all around the place, and things are looking very encouraging for the early and rapid development of Tui and Amokura if we have success at Amokura," he told ERN.
The second planned well would be Pukeko-1, into the Pukeko prospect approximately 70km south of Tui. Pukeko was a large prospect at both the Eocene-aged Kapuni F and C sands levels and was close to a postulated source of oil.
A simple structure at Kapuni C sands level had the capacity for 80 million-plus barrels of recoverable oil. Additional oil potential in the deeper F sands would also be targeted, with drilling expected in April-May.
A third well would depend on results from the Amokura and Pukeko wells, but was likely to be either an appraisal of the Amokura-Pateke complex or drilling of another nearby prospect.
Last week NZOG and its associate company Pan Pacific Petroleum announced that the "mystery major international company" farming in to PEP 38460 was Mitsui and Co. NZOG farmed out a 7.5% interest leaving it with a 12.5% stake, while PPP farmed out a 5.0% interest to leave it with 10%.
Mitsui E&P New Zealand believes PEP 38460 to be "an oil rich block", with total potential recoverable reserves in excess of 100 million barrels, including approximately 20 million at Tui.
