Austral also hopes to have a development plan approved for the nearby Cheal oil in the next month or so, as well as a 3D seismic survey completed over both fields to further define and delineate drilling targets.
Chief executive Rick Webber told EnergyReview.net on Friday that the PEP 38738-02 (deep) partners had finally been able to acquire the wireline unit necessary to test the McKee sands at Cardiff-2A.
“We should be testing by the end of the month and have initial results about a week later,” he said.
“Securing a definitive test on this sand is a key step toward establishing Cardiff’s commercial viability.”
Austral started the Cardiff well about 18 month ago but has been plagued by problems, including stuck down-hole equipment and equipment delays. Initial test flows exceeded 3 million standard cubic feet per day of gas and 100 barrels per day of condensate.
Webber said he expected the final draft of the Cheal development plan to be with the PEP 38739-01 (shallow) partners this week and for them to give their “full and final approval” in a matter of weeks.
“It is expected project construction activities will commence immediately after approval.”
Results from the Brecon 3D seismic survey being shot over the Cheal and Cardiff prospects should be available in July. These would be used to optimise bottom-hole locations for the Cheal development wells, and to further define and delineate drilling targets at both the Miocene-aged Mount Messenger (Cheal) and Eocene-aged Kapuni (Cardiff) levels.
Last month, Webber said Austral planned to fast-track the development of Cheal and Cardiff to generate early cash flow and to provide the backbone for Austral to fully develop the company’s reserve base.
The PEP 38738-01 (Cheal) partners are Austral, which holds a 36.5% stake, Cheal Petroleum (30.5%) and International Resource Management (33%).
The PEP 38738-02 (Cardiff) partners are Austral (25.1%), Genesis Energy (40%), Cheal (15.1%) and IRMC (19.8%).
Webber also said he was excited about the possibility of returning to drill in the offshore Canterbury Basin.
The 481km 2D Whaler seismic survey, which the Pacific Titan vessel finished shooting in licence PEP 38258 late last week, was designed to “infill” existing seismic coverage over the Whaler, Caravel and Coracle Prospects, he said.
Following interpretation of the data, Austral anticipated that Whaler, the best and most identifiable of the prospects, would be matured to drillable status. But Webber did not know when an offshore rig could become available to drill Whaler.
Webber was a BP New Zealand employee when a Shell-BP-Todd joint venture drilled the last well off Canterbury, Galleon-1, in 1985. Galleon-1 flowed up to 2240 barrels of oil per day and 10 million scf/d of gas but was later plugged and abandoned.
Austral also said last Friday that it and partner Rift Oil had gone fishing at the Douglas-1 well in licence PPL 235 in Papua New Guinea. They tried unsuccessfully to retrieve 290m of stuck drill pipe and had now plugged the well back and started the sidetrack.
The PPL 235 partners are operator Trans Orient Petroleum (PNG) (an Austral Pacific Energy subsidiary), which holds a 35% stake and Rift Oil plc (65%).
