By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Nov. 11 -- Estimated ultimate recovery of more than 100 million bbl of oil has been confirmed for OMV AG-operated Maari field and adjacent Manaia field in the offshore portion of New Zealand’s Taranaki basin, two of the field’s partners said.
OMV AG, which declined comment on reserves and production until a full evaluation is complete, plans to place on production an extended reach well that at 26,250 ft is New Zealand’s longest penetration. That well, Manaia-1, penetrated a Mangahewa formation reservoir on the Manaia structure.
The new recovery figure is twice the volume initially estimated for the main Moki sands reservoir at Maari. New Zealand’s next largest producing area is the Tui fields at an original 50 million bbl.
Recent additional discoveries at Manaia and the Maari M2A sands plus the main Moki reservoir together “amount to over 100 million bbl of recoverable oil,” said Richard Tweedie, chairman of Maari minority partner Cue Energy. Maari field went on production in April.
The Manaia extended reach well is to be tied into Maari facilities and begin producing within months. Production from the M2A zone well in the Moki sands, 50 m above the main reservoir, is expected to start by yearend.
Another Maari partner, Horizon Oil, said the additional reserves will extend the field’s production plateau. The MR9 well to the M2A zone will produce intermittently when capacity becomes available.
Horizon said the Manaia-1 horizontal well cut 1.5-km-long Mangahewa reservoir section with a net-to-gross pay factor of 60-70% and that logs and gas-oil ratio analyses confirm the presence of oil throughout.
There was no revision to the predrill oil in place estimate of 50-60 million bbl at this stage. Horizon said oil in place estimate for the Maari M2A zone is 30-40 million bbl (OGJ Online, Oct. 7, 2009).
Exploratory wells have penetrated two more oil zones at Maari that are not yet appraised, Horizon noted. They are the deeper Mangahewa formation at Maari and the shallower Moki formation at Manaia.
Maari-Manaia interests are OMV 69%, Todd Energy 16%, Horizon Oil International 10%, and Cue Energy Resources 5%. Todd Energy owns 27% of Cue.
Photo from bp.
Photo from Equinor | Stuart Conway.
