Start On Tasman 1 Oil Drilling Soon

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32234, 28 February 1970, Page 48

Start On Tasman 1 Oil Drilling Soon

(New Zealand Press Association)

NELSON, February 27.

Drilling of Tasman 1, the exploratory first well in the concession south of the Maui oilfield, should begin in about a week.

The giant Sedco 135 F offshore drilling rig should be moved from Golden Bay to the site of Tasman 1 about the middle of next week, the managing director of New Zealand Aquitaine Petroleum, Ltd (Mr M. Carval) said today. Siting the rig, anchoring and testing if should be completed by the end of next week and drilling would begin almost immediately Drilling the exploratory first well could take up to six weeks. The likely depth of the well could not be announced yet, he said. There were no plans for more drilling after Tasman 1 at this stage. If the well was successful a new programme would have to be prepared for more detailed investigation. The New Zealand manager of the South East Drilling Coinpany (Mr E. J. Adkins) said today that work on the rig in Golden Bay was pro

gressing well and should be completed about Sunday or Monday. Towing the rig from Golden Bay to Tasman 1, 65 miles north of Nelson, would take about a day. The well will be drilled in Tasman Petroleum’s concession covering 4340 square miles of seabed off the northern coast of Nelson.