Drilling finishes at Tui, first oil possible within week

By NZPA

Tuesday 24th July 2007

The fourth and final development well at the offshore Taranaki Tui oilfield has been completed and the first oil could be flowing from the field within a week.

Pan Pacific Petroleum, which has a 10% interest in Tui, said that at 6am today the Ocean Patriot drilling rig was preparing to lift anchors at the Pateke-3H well.

It would be moving to the Hector prospect, to the southwest, to drill the first well in an upcoming Taranaki basin exploration programme.

David Salisbury, chief executive with New Zealand Oil & Gas, which has 12.5% of the Tui development, said other work at Tui was at an advanced stage and he was feeling confident about the chance of first oil by the end of the month.

NZOG said previously that the Tui oilfields were estimated to contain 27.9 million barrels of recoverable oil.

It was estimated that Hector, if successful, could contain up to 60 million barrels.

The other companies involved in Tui are AWE New Zealand Pty with 20%, New Zealand Overseas Petroleum Pty with 22.5%, and Mitsui E & P New Zealand with 35%.

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