Company chief executive Dave Bennett told EnergyReview.Net on Monday that last weekend's logging had indicated at least 35m of producable hydrocarbons - the deviated sidetrack well encountering some good quality Tariki sandstones at the top of the formation, around the 2817m mark, and some lesser quality sands further down towards the 3028m target depth.
Today he said from Wellington that a sidewall coring program had been completed and preparations were underway to commence flow testing of up to three zones within the lower, middle and uppermost parts of the gross 210m Tariki reservoir section encountered.
Testing of the lowermost zone would be done first and would probably start this coming weekend. Testing of all zones was envisaged to take two weeks or so.
The Kahili well is 12km south of the commercial McKee oil field, now owned by Todd Energy, and 17km north of the once prolific Waihapa oil field, now owned by Swift Energy New Zealand. This proximity to existing infrastructure will aid any development decisions by the partners - Indo-Pacific (45% equity) and Australian companies Tap Oil (30%) and Claire Energy (25%).
Meanwhile, credit rating agency Standard & Poors has advised NGC Holdings Ltd (NGC) that, following its normal annual review. Standard and Poors had reaffirmed NGC's credit rating at "A -" in the long term, and "A-2" in the short term, with a stable outlook, said NGC communications manager Keith FitzPatrick from Wellington.
Last August announced a $NZ34.5 million net profit for the June 2002 year, more than doubling its half-yearly return of $NZ16.1 million profit and cementing its recovery from the $NZ301.6 million loss in the 2001 financial year, following its disastrous foray into electricity wholesaling and retailing.
