Tui oil joint venture seeking new drilling sites around the field this year

Thursday 26th January 2012

The joint venture running the Tui oil field off the Taranaki coast will evaluate new drilling sites inside and near the field in the first quarter of the year, partner Pan Pacific Petroleum (PPP) said.

Tui is located 50km off the Taranaki coast and production began in 2007. The partners are New Zealand Oil & Gas with 12.5 percent, Australian Worldwide Exploration (AWE) 42.5 percent, Pan Pacific Petroleum 10 percent and Mitsui E&P Australia Pty 35 percent.

PPP said operator AWE has continued evaluation of both the Tui area infill development and near field exploration potential.

“This work is planned for further joint venture review in first quarter 2012 with the aim of determining whether any of the identified opportunities meet the criteria for selection as firm drilling candidates.”

Last year the partnership said it expects Tui’s probable reserves were about one-fifth smaller than previously thought, meaning it will stop operating some time in 2019 or 2020.

From Jan. 1 BP will hold the field’s crude annual term sale contract, PPP said.

Production from the Tui Area oil fields totaled 518,549 barrels for the December quarter, averaging 5636 barrels a day.

Production was marginally lower than the September quarter due to a scheduled shutdown from Nov. 23 to Dec 6.

Production was back on line at 6,500 barrels per day on Dec. 6.

Shares in PPP rose a tenth of a cent to 18.3 cents in trading yesterday, while NZ Oil & Gas stock slipped 0.7 percent to 76 cents.

(BusinessDesk)

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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