Drilling manager Steve Butler told EnergyReview.Net today that
ConocoPhillips took over the Ocean Bounty semi-submersible rig from previous operator Shell Todd Oil Services on Christmas Eve and spudded Karewa-1 two days later.
Butler said ConocoPhillips would not be releasing results from the Karewa drilling operation, which was expected to be completed in less than a month, leaving any announcements to its New Zealand partner Todd Energy.
Todd Energy has said the Karewa-1 well will fulfill the partners' work program commitments for the 48864 sq.km licence, the second term of which expires next April. The well is being drilled off the Kawhia Harbour and will target a shallow late Miocene-aged target in the southernmost part of the licence, on the edge of the Taranaki Basin, and should have a target depth of about 2000m.
Todd Energy believes the Karewa prospect has some similarities to the more southern Maari oil discovery, where it and PEP 38413 operator Austrian firm OMV will use the Ocean Bounty to drill an appraisal well after Karewa-1.
ConocoPhillips is operator for PEP 38602, with a 56.67% interest, while Maui, Kapuni and Pohokura partner Todd Petroleum Mining holds a 10% stake and Japan's Inpex Corporation a 33.33% interest.
Meanwhile, no Pohokura-3 test results have yet been released by PEP 38459 operator Shell Todd Oil Services, though the Ocean Bounty has finished its 36-hour testing program and plugged and abandoned the appraisal well. Earlier this month Pohokura-3 reached the 3760m target depth along hole in the Mangahewa reservoir, which is part of the Eocene-aged Kapuni group of sands prevalent through much of the Taranaki Basin. Pohokura-3 is designed to test the northern limits of the possible 1tcf gas field.
The second well in the current appraisal program, Pohokura South-1B, is believed to be nearing its along hole target depth of 5447m, with scheduled activities including coring in the Turi sands. Pohokura South-1B is to help define the southern extent of the field and is being drilled from onshore and deviated about 2.6 km off the Motunui coast in a northwesterly direction.
