Lyttelton base for oil hunt

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33815, 11 April 1975, Page 3

Lyttelton base for oil hunt

Lyttelton will almost certainly be the base tor the oil-drilling ship Glomar Tasman, which is due oft the Canterbury coast late next month to drill an exploratory well for BP-Shell- I odd i Canterbury i Services. Ltd.

The hole will he in 70 t metres of water. 12 c kilometres south-west of Akaroa, and 47km i south-east of the i Rakaia River mouth. 1 The Glomar Tasman, for- 1 merly the bulk carrier Punta' Aramaya, is owned by Howard Hughes’s company, ( Global Marine, Ltd. She can!' drill to a depth of 25,000 ft > in up to 600 ft of water. I The vessel is now working ' in West Australian waters,l--and will sail soon for New!' Zealand with three support T vessels. .{ According, to the chairman!' of directors of BP-Shell-Todd ( Services (Mr J. C. Fair) the ' Glomar well will go down to 3 about 2286 metres (7500ft)|I and should take about a 1 month to complete. i Gov’t share ‘ It is expected that the!* New Zealand Government; will meet 40 per cent of the I drilling costs, and take 51! per cent of any production. If the exploratory well is!v dry, core samples will be! a analysed, and then more sur-la veys might be done before; t

any further drilling. Surveys began in the area about four years ago. If the well does strike hydrocarbons in quantity, a period of analysis is likely before any further drilling, which could be done by the Glomar Tasman, or by a different rig. At present the Penrod 74 drilling rig is in New Zealand waters, working on the Shell-BP-Todd exploration programme in Taranaki waters before moving to Southland to put down two wells for Hunt International Petroleum. Ltd. In a statement issued to the Press Association yesterday, Mr Fair said that drilling would start early in June in the company’s prospecting area, which extends from south of Oamaru to just north of Motonau Island, and offshore to a water depth of about 200 metres. The area covers about 9913 square miles. Previous well Only one other offshore well has been drilled in the area: that was Endeavour 1, a dry well drilled in 1970 by; the Sedco 135 F semi-submer-

S'sible rig. That well was r abandoned at 2741 metres (8993 ft “ The hole was in 39 metres a of water, and was drilled c 19km south-east of Oamaru. ;. The well which the Gloe mar Tasman will drill is a apparent lx unnamed so fat . ;As well as — or instead of 4 — oil, it might strike gas - which, if in sufficient quane, tity, could provide fuel for t Canterbury industry and homes. But industry spokesjimen are among the first to o'point out that the well 1 might just as easily be dry. When the Glomar Tasman yis working, she will prob--1 ably require supply bv both -i local craft and by helicoptjters as well as from her - support ships. 3