Oil production goes ahead in deep Manaia Field well

Oil will be commercially drilled in the Manaia Field offshore Taranaki, after a successful appraisal that drilled about eight kilometres – the longest well ever drilled in New Zealand.

OMV New Zealand, the operator for Maari Partners (with 69% share), announced the decision this morning, but remained coy on reserves or production flow rates.

The appraisal took 48 days in a “challenging” drilling programme 10km south west of the Maari oil field in the permit PEP 38413.

OMV NZ managing director Wayne Kirk said it was pressing ahead with preparations to begin producing oil as soon as possible.

“We knew there was a good chance of success as oil was first discovered there in 1970. At the time it was considered uneconomical because of poor reservoir quality and low oil production rates from a typical vertical well.

“However, the type of well drilled now, our evaluation of the well data combined with the availability of the Maari production facilities now makes the Manaia discovery commercially viable.”

The well will be tied to the Maari facilities, he said. The Manaia-1 appraisal well was drilled as an ‘extended reach well’ from the Maari wellhead platform.

“A well of this length – about eight kilometres or eight times the length of the Auckland Harbour Bridge – had never been attempted before in New Zealand,” Mr Kirk said.

“The well path from the drilling rig to the Manaia Field also added to the considerable challenge. It’s the equivalent of drilling from Wellington Airport and aiming for an area the size of a set of goal posts some 2kg below the Westpac Stadium.”

The Maari partners comprise OMV (69%), Todd Energy (16%), Horizon Oil International Ltd (10%) and Cue Taranaki Pty Ltd (5%).

OMV also announced the ENSCO 107 jack-up rig was also used to target the M2A formation, just above the oil producing Moki formation and production of M2A is expected by the end of the year.

It would not comment on reserves or production flow rates until a full evaluation of both discoveries had been completed.