Project Profile
Value: Undisclosed
Location: Offshore Taranaki Basin, New Zealand
Area: 1,613 km² or 398,580 acres
Reserves: mean recoverable resource of 65 million barrels
Start-up year: -
PEP 51906 is located in the offshore Taranaki Basin. The permit was granted by the Government of New Zealand on 19 November 2009 for a period of five years. It comprises approximately 1,613 km² or 398,580 acres in total located in the Taranaki Basin, offshore of the North Island province of Taranaki, New Zealand Maps. PEP 51906 is strategically located in what is considered to be a highly prospective area of New Zealand’s only producing hydrocarbon basin; the Taranaki Basin. It is adjacent to three producing fields; the Maui gas/condensate field to the east (which has been in production since 1979), the Tui oil field to the north-east (which has been producing since 2008) and the Maari/Manaia fields to the south (which commenced production in 2009).
The permit area is prospective for both oil and gas and the main area of exploration focus has been on four features visible on the older data – Kakapo, Kea Deep, Toke and Matuku. In addition to those four features, Octanex believes there are a number of other potential features that may warrant the acquisition of further seismic in order to ascertain if they can be elevated to lead or prospect status.
Only one well has been drilled within the area of the permit; Kea-1. That well aimed to evaluate the hydrocarbon potential of the Kapuni sands but was found to be water bearing. There remains potential in a deeper part of the Kea feature, adjacent to the bottom hole location of Kea-1. Prior to 30 June 2010, Octanex completed the work programme for the first period of the permit (ending May 2011) which required the reprocessing of 1,500 km of existing 2D seismic data within the first 18 months. Initial interpretation of the reprocessed data identified further leads, one of them in the southern part of the permit named Kaka Maps.
In May 2011, Octanex announced that the farmout agreement that had been entered into with OMV NZ in respect of the PEP 51906 permit had became unconditional. Under the terms of that agreement, Octanex assigned a 65% participating interest in PEP 51906 to OMV NZ; while Octanex retained a 35% participating interest and will be free carried through certain agreed phases of exploration. On the assignment of the 65% interest, OMV NZ became the Operator and made it clear to Octanex that it is committed to an in-depth exploration of the permit.
Operators:
OMV: Operator with 65% participating interest
New Zealand Oil & Gas: 12.5% interest
Octanex: 22.5% participating interest
Contractor:
Frigstad Offshore: Drilling contractor
Reflect Geophysical Ptd Ltd: 3D seismic survey