"We are going to be drilling for the first time on our own. We have 100 percent interest in licence in PEP 38760 and will be drilling the Patea East well all on our own," Todd Energy chief executive Richard Tweedie told EnergyReview.Net from Wellington today.
Tweedie said Todd Energy had become sufficiently concerned about STOS' high drilling costs to have recruited its own well engineering manager/drilling manager from overseas, New Zealander Andy McGregor.
He said McGregor had worked for a variety of companies involved in the New Zealand exploration, both domestic and foreign firms, and had participated in the drilling of several onshore Taranaki wells in recent years.
"Andy has already done some work for us and is a very experienced man."
Tweedie said Todd's first "stand-alone" well was scheduled to be drilled mid-year by the Parker Drilling 188 rig after it had finished the Patea West-1 well, which Shell Todd Oil Services would be drilling from the onshore PEP 38760 licence but deviating offshore into the adjacent PEP 38737.
Todd Energy believes the Patea prospect straddles the PEP 38737, 760 and 719 licences and appears to be separated into eastern and western parts by a subsurface basement ridge.
Patea East-1 will be testing the shallow oil potential of the eastern part of this structure, with the target zone predicted to be found at a depth of about 1000-1100m.
Todd further believes this part of the prospect has the potential to hold some tens of millions of barrels of oil. Oil has already flowed in tests of the shallow Manutahi sandstones in some of Swift Energy's Kauri wells in PEP 38719.
Some industry commentators say Todd Energy going it alone, without Shell and STOS at Patea East, signals the start of the end of the long-term exploration relationship Shell and Todd have had since 1955 - at least for onshore work.
However, Todd, this country's largest private energy company, still lacks the people and resources to sever its links completely with Shell. So the two will remain "wedded" for offshore exploration for the next few years at least and be able to celebrate their "golden anniversary" in 2005.
