Greymouth is claiming field operator and New Zealand Oil and Gas subsidiary NZOG Services has banned it from the Ngatoro B wellsite, where up to 80,000 cubic feet of gas a day is being flared.
Greymouth says this flaring should stop and the gas be piped to the adjacent Kaimiro production station which it owns and operates. Greymouth has also spent about $NZ700,000 laying a pipeline to the boundary of the Ngatoro-B wellsite from the production station.
However, Greymouth says a dispute over payment for the gas has deteriorated to the stage where NZOG Services is not allowing it access to the wellsite or to tie-in the pipeline.
The Taranaki Daily News reported that in turn Greymouth was not paying for gas received from another wellsite in the Ngatoro field and was now being sued for an estimated $NZ80,000 NZOG Services believed Greymouth owed it. The paper believed the issue could end up in the courts later this month.
The paper quoted Greymouth chief operating officer John Sturgess as saying that last year Greymouth, then a 59.57% owner of the field, had created a comprehensive development plan for Ngatoro that included putting a stop to all flaring and halting the disposal into nearby streams of salty water produced from the wells.
However, gas continued to be flared at Ngatoro-B, while the produced formation water, containing elevated levels of chlorides, continued to be dumped into the Ngatoro Stream.
NZOG finance manager Gordon Ward admitted from Sydney that there had been some disagreements over field operations at Ngatoro for some time, but declined to comment further.
Greymouth's Sturgess had not returned EnergyReview.net emails or phone calls at press time today.
Earlier this year former Ngatoro partner Indo-Pacific Energy and Greymouth fought a high court battle for control of the Goldie-1 well, within the Ngatoro licence PMP 38148, which Indo-Pacific drilled on a sole risk basis about two years ago.
The court later stripped Indo-Pacific of operatorship of Goldie and awarded that to Greymouth, although it allowed Indo-Pacific to keep its sole risk producer premiums.
However, a week ago Indo-Pacific sold its 5% stake in Ngatoro and Goldie to Greymouth for an undisclosed sum, as well as settling all outstanding claims between the two companies.
