Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent
MELBOURNE, Oct. 12 -- Austria’s OMV AG and its partners in the Taranaki basin off New Zealand began oil production from Manaia-1 well with initial flow of 4,000 b/d.
The well, which is New Zealand’s longest drilled hole with a measured length of 7,943 m, is tied into the joint venture’s Maari production facilities.
Manaia-1 penetrated a gross 1,524-m long section of the target Eocene-age Mangahewa formation and doubled the recoverable reserves for the Maari-Manaia fields to about 100 million bbl. The new well will complement production from the original five Maari development wells.
In September, Maari produced its 10 millionth bbl of oil, 19 months after the field was brought on stream in February 2009.
Both fields lie in permit PMP 38160.
OMV New Zealand has 69% interest. Todd Energy Co. of New Zealand has 16%, Sydney-based Horizon Oil Ltd. 10%, and Melbourne-based Cue Energy Resources Ltd. 5%.
US Department of the Interior.
File photo from PDVSA..
