The Houston-headquartered company, in releasing its second quarter 2002 results, said production from New Zealand now accounted for 30% of total production.
This is primarily due to the commissioning of the Rimu production station in onshore south Taranaki and Swift Energy New Zealand's purchase of the Tariki, Ahuroa, Waihapa and Ngaere (Tawn) fields from Shell New Zealand last January.
Total American and New Zealand production increased by 13% for the second 2002 quarter to 12.7 billion cubic feet equivalent (bcfe), an average of 139.3 million cubic feet equivalent per day (mmscfe/d), compared to 11.3 bcfe for the second quarter of 2001.
Company president and chief executive Terry Swift said from Houston that the Tawn assets had continued to perform at or above expectations. Swift Energy New Zealand (SENZ) had also started several production improvement operations on the Tawn properties.
It is known SENZ has already completed recompletions on the Ngaere-1 and Waihapa-6 wells with increased oil flows. Gas lifts in the wells are also being considered.
The company said production from the Tawn fields averaged approximately 40 mmscfe/d during the second quarter of 2002, which was higher than anticipated because of higher levels of demand. Contact Energy takes Tawn gas as feedstock for its thermal power stations in New Plymouth and Auckland.
Swift Energy Company said daily production in this area was expected to average approximately 35 mmscfe/d for the rest of the year. This was because of the increased availability of hydro-electricity, with the consequent drop in demand for power from gas-fired stations.
The Rimu production station, which began operating in the second quarter, was averaging approximately 1011 barrels of oil equivalent per day (687 barrels of crude oil plus natural gas liquids, and 1.9 mmscf of natural gas.
Swift spudded the Kauri-A4 exploratory well on June 22 and the well was expected to take up to 100 days to reach its target depth. The well had multiple objectives in the Kauri, Tariki and Kapuni sands.
After Kauri-A4 well, the Parker Drilling 246 rig would be moved to Rimu to drill a development well to provide additional throughput for the production station.
