Drilling stops at Toko 1

Press, 22 November 1978, Page 2

Drilling stops at Toko 1

i PA Wellington The drilling of the Toko 1 [well had been interrupted to •enable all generators used [on the diesel electric 5000 ■ rig to be checked over, said |a senior official of Petrocorp [Exploration yesterday. I The well had been drilled to a depth of just over 100 m I when a weakness in the generators became apparent, he [said. ] The well is the Government’s first major independent venture and has a budiget of S2M. Petrocorp intends to drill to a depth of [about 5000 m, which might [take about three months. 1 Earlier report., had said that drilling of the Govern(ment well had stopped only [hours after it was spuddedin. | A New Plymouth report said the “weakness” was in .one generator which burnt [out forcing the shutdown on

Monday after the Minister! of Energy (Mr Gair) had] officially started the drilling at a ceremony at 5 p.m. on Sunday. The generator has .been sent to Auckland for repair. The Petrocorp official said yesterday: “As a prudent operator, the drilling superintendent decided not to drill further and risk any major damage to the generators and a failure with the drill still in the hole. “The generators and all e.ctrica! equipment were; examined in New Zealand by| a representative of the I manufacturers before the rig j. was moved to the Toko sited and were tested during the I trial rig up at New Ply-) mouth,” he said. The defect, in the in-' sulation of the generators,; became evident when the rig; .was under heavy load.