Seismic tests for Waihapa

Press, 17 May 1989, Page 35

Seismic tests for Waihapa

Additional appraisal work, involving seismic acquisition and another well, will be done on the Waihapa oilfield (PML 38140) in central Taranaki during the next 10 weeks. After a meeting of the Waihapa Joint Venture in Wellington, the field operator. Petrocorp Exploration, announced yesterday that it would prepare a 3-D seismic acquisition programme over the total mining licence area. Recording. was scheduled to be completed by the end of July. The intensive 3-D seismic programme would provide a sub-surface seismic image over the entire mining licence. It would assist in delineating the extent of the Waihapa field and in identifying possible appraisal well locations. Another appraisal well, Waihapa-6, would be drilled from a new site in the western sector of PML 38140. A commencement date has yet to be finalised.

Petrocorp Exploration also announced that indicative proposals for the field’s development were discussed at the meeting and were subject to further consideration. Detailed field development planning was progressing, it said. Petrocorp Exploration said the combination of the seismic acquisition programme and additional drilling, together with data progressively compiled from the longterm testing of producing wells, would provide the joint venture with a clearer insight to the Waihapa field's potential. The participants in PML 38140 are: Minister of Energy 38.36 per cent, Petrocorp Exploration 28.34 per cent, Southern Petroleum (Waihapa) 22.60 per cent, Nomeco New Zealand Exploration Company 5 per cent, Bligh Oil and Minerals N.Z. 2 per cent, Carpentaria Exploration Company (N.Z.) 2 per cent, Petrocorp Exploration (Taranaki) 1.70 per cent.