Drillwell Exploration has already started the shot-hole drilling and ESL is about to begin the seismic acquisition of data over 90 sqkm of land in PEP 38749, which Todd Energy bought from GeoSphere Exploration for an undisclosed sum last September.
Todd Energy chief executive Richard Tweedie told EnergyReview.Net that the Te Kiri seismic survey would be the third largest 3D survey yet conducted in onshore Taranaki, the largest being that done for Todd and Shell NZ over the nearby commercial Kapuni field several years ago.
“Some positive leads have already been identified and some prospects will hopefully be identified after this 3D data has been interpreted. Our plans to drill, etcetera, will depend on the results of that seismic, however,” Tweedie told ERN from Wellington.
GeoSphere Exploration principal Mac Beggs last year told ERN that he believed the “forgotten corner” of onshore Taranaki contained several shallow and deep commercial hydrocarbon reservoirs.
Only one well, the 1986 Te Kiri-1 well, had been drilled in the coastal region and had encountered multiple hydrocarbon shows below 1850m.
GeoSphere believed there were significant primary reservoir objectives in the Miocene-aged Moki formation and Eocene-aged Kapuni formation.
The Moki was prone to oil between 2800-3300m, while the Kapuni was gas-condensate prone below 4000m. Likely bypassed oil and undrilled Moki F structures could have combined P50 reserves of 73 million barrels.
