Chairman of the Pohokura joint venture operating committee, Dennis Washer, told EnergyReview.Net today that preparations for testing the Pohokura South-1B sidetrack well were underway, with production testing due to start the week of May 18-24 and possibly continuing for six weeks.
Washer said the Pohokura partners - Shell New Zealand, Todd Energy and OMV/Preussag Energie - had a growing confidence that field reserves would prove to be greater than the 500-600bcf mean estimate previously reported by Energy Review.Net in January and later confirmed by Todd Energy chief executive Richard Tweedie.
"That comment, appropriate at the time, was made without the benefit of analysis of the results of the data acquired from the then just completed drilling program."
"We acquired a significant amount of new data from both wells during the summer and results to date have given us this growing confidence."
What had originally been thought of as an "offshore, near-shore, onshore" field now had a 100% offshore bias.
Washer said final figures should exceed the 500-600bcf estimate quoted by Tweedie, but he declined to speculate what any new mean recoverable reserves estimates might be.
The last official Fletcher Challenge Energy figure was that the offshore north Taranaki field probably contained 964 bcf of gas and 53 million barrels of associated condensate.
It would probably be October at the earliest before full field modelling analysis was completed. A preferred field development plan should then be selected and announced before the end of the year, he added.
The partners were not expecting to make any submissions to Crown Minerals regarding gaining a full petroleum mining permit (PMP) for Pohokura until the project had "firmed up" and key matters such as development concept selection, the required number of wells and platforms, as well as reserves estimates had been finalised.
A range of possible off-take profiles was still being developed, with the aim of having first gas ashore by the first quarter of 2006. This was provided the partners could jointly sell and market Pohokura gas, said Washer.
The commission is to release its draft decision, on the partners' application for joint marketing and selling, this Thursday.
While neither the partners nor Pohokura operator Shell Todd Oil Services have so far released any results regarding Pohokura-3 or Pohokura-1B, it is known the southern sidetrack well, which was drilled from onshore but deviated about 3.7 km offshore, was not as good as the more northern Pohokura-3, which was drilled 12km offshore.
During the summer, only two days of production testing - of unidentified zones within the Mangahewa reservoir of the Eocene-aged Kapuni group of sands - at Pohokura-3 was sufficient to confirm sustainable flow rates. At Pohokura South-1B at least two cores were cut from the same reservoir, though no flow testing has been done until now.
Whatever the final outcome for Pohokura reserves figures, there is likely to be intense competition for Pohokura gas from gas traders, electricity generators and even from methanol manufacturer Methanex as it fights for its economic future in New Zealand.
