Development licence plans

Press, 14 August 1989, Page 28

Development licence plans

PA Wellington The consortium exploring the Waihapa oil field in Taranaki plans to lodge an application for a licence to develop the field with the Energy Ministry this week. Operator for the field, Petrocorp Exploration, said the consortium had agreed on a work programme and intended making an application to the ministry for a specified term mining licence based on the programme. An application for planning consent for the proposed development would also be made to the Stratford District Council. A specified term mining licence is the next stage after an explorer holding an appra-

isal licence has proven the licence has development potential. The specified term licence can be for any period up to 40 years. The consortium is due to release a report on the impact development of the field will have on the area tomorrow. Petrocorp public relations manager, Mr Keith Fitz Patrick, said the company had been working on the report for some months, but would not give any details. The consortium last month revealed its first estimate of Waihapa’s reserves. At 14 million barrels of recoverable oil — worth nearly $4OO million at world prices — the estimate is less than half the

level expected. It had previously been estimated that the licence contained 33 million barrels, but that less than half could be economically extracted. Waihapa’s structure is unusual in that oil 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. Petrocorp also reported that the Waihapa-5 well was reopened for testing on August 1 and had yielded up to 2158 barrels of oil a day. After acidisation to break down the rock surrounding the oil and make extraction

easier, the well had produced 3300 barrels a day compared with 1704 when testing began in May. Drilling at the sixth appraisal well would begin within the next 10 days. Field data from a 3-D seismic survey begun in June had been completed and was now being processed. Partners in the joint venture are the Energy Ministry with 38.36 per cent, Southern Petroleum (Waihapa) 22.6 per cent, Petrocorp Exploration 30 per cent, and Australian companies Nomeco New Zealand Exploration Co 5 per cent, Biigh Oil and Minerals NZ 2 per cent, Carpentaria Exploration Co (NZ) 2 per cent.