Waihapa gas decision soon

Press, 28 April 1989, Page 18

Waihapa gas decision soon

By

TRACEY LOWNDES

PA Wellington

The exploration partners in the promising Waihapa oil field will decide within the next two months on the future of the 200,000 cu m of gas produced each day. The gas is now being burnt off because a buyer has not been found for it.

But Petrocorp’s public relations manager, Mr Keith Fitz Patrick, says the consortium controlling the southern Taranaki field will be presented with plans for short-term use of the gas in a couple of months.

Petrocorp, as operator of the field, Is responsible for administering the mining licence and producing plans for the field on behalf of the consortium. The mining licence for Waihapa is held by the Government (38.36 per cent), Petrocorp (30.04), the listed Brierley Investments subsidiary, Southern Petroleum (22.6), and the Australian firms, Nomeco (5.0), Bligh (2.0) and Carpentaria (2.0). Mr Fitz Patrick says Petrocorp is now negotiating with prospective buyers for the gas. Once it had determined what the market was, the consortium would have to consider how to put in permanent production facilities so the gas could be separated and piped off the field, he said. If present negotiations are successful, a programme for the gas might be under way by the first quarter of 1990 Waihapa is widely seen

as having an oil production potential second only to the McKee field, which now produces 10,500 barrels a day from the 20 wells sunk since 1980. Already, flows of 7000 barrels of oil a day are being produced at Waihapa and Petrocorp expects the final production level to be substantially more than this when the field is finally developed. The latest report on a fifth Waihapa appraisal well says the explorers are continuing to drill stem test the well. Drill stem testing enables preliminary assessment of oil flows from a well. Waihapa-5 has not yet produced oil. Waihapa’s reserves are still unknown as the nature of the field makes testing difficult. Oil at the field is contained in fractured limestone rock and trapped in cracks only a few millimetres wide. In most fields oil is held within pores in sandstone. Mr Fitz Patrick said the capital needed to develop the field could be up to $lOO million. The partners are questioning the Government’s decision to award itself a mining licence for the Ngarere field, immediately north of Waihapa. The Government has announced the 46.7 sq km field is separate from Waihapa. It has said the Ngarere field is likely to contain 40 million barrels of oil and it is keen to sell it off. But the partners argue the field is an extension of Waihaps