Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent
MELBOURNE, Oct. 13 -- Shell Exploration New Zealand's $1 billion (NZ) Pohokura gas-condensate field development came of stream this week, initially flowing from three land-based directional wells drilled into the mostly offshore structure.
Another six wells, drilled from an offshore platform about 8 km offshore, are expected to come on stream one by one as they are drilled during the coming year.
Shell says it expects production to reach 130 MMcfd of gas along with a flow of 8,200 b/d of condensate once all wells have been completed.
The field, in the Taranaki basin near New Plymouth on the west coast of the country's North Island, has estimated reserves of 900 bcf of gas and 50 million bbl of condensate.
The reservoir is the Eocene Kapuni C sand, which also is the main reservoir in the region's other fields.
The onshore drilling was completed in late 2005 and early this year, with each of the three deviated wells creating records in New Zealand. Both Pohokura-1 and Pohokura-2 exceeded 6,500 m in total length, while Pohokura-3 reached a total along-hole length of 7,409 m.
The offshore wellhead platform consists of a 415 tonne jacket and 155 tonne topsides module. The Ensco 56 jack up will begin drilling the six offshore wells that will be connected to the offshore structure once it is fully in place.
Pohokura gas is being fed into the North Island's high-pressure gas network. Condensate is being piped to storage tanks at Omata near New Plymouth for shipping to domestic and overseas refineries.
Shell estimated that the field will be producing for about 20 years, however it is unwilling to give a figure for ultimate reserves or the API value of the condensate.
Interest holders are Shell 48%, Todd Energy Ltd. 26%, and OMV AG 26%.
