Beach farms into another NZ Great South basin permit

Dec. 19, 2019
Beach Energy Ltd., Adelaide, has farmed in to a 30% interest in OMV’s exploration permit PEP50119 in the Great South basin off the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island.

Beach Energy Ltd., Adelaide, has farmed in to a 30% interest in OMV’s exploration permit PEP50119 in the Great South basin off the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island.

Beach will fund a 30% share, estimated to be about $25 million (Aus.), of the cost of drilling the Tawhaki-1 wildcat and associated work program.

On completion of the deal OMV will retain operatorship and hold 52.93% interest while the other JV partner, Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Ltd., will hold 17.07%.

OMV received approval from the NZ Environment Protection Agency Dec. 17 to drill up to 10 exploration and appraisal wells in the permit beginning with the Tawhaki wildcat in early 2020. It will be drilled by the COSL Prospector semi-submersible rig.

The prospect is a basement drape structural trap with up to 470 sq km under structural closure. It has been defined by modern, high-quality 3D seismic and interpreted to have Cretaceous-age reservoirs similar in age and quality to sandstones encountered in Caravel-1 about 130 km to the north in permit PEP38264 operated by Beach.

Beach also plans to drill the large Wherry prospect in PEP 38264 in 2020.

The company now has a substantial interest in three Great South basin permits as it is a joint venture partner in PEP52717 that contains the large Barque prospect and the Clipper-1 discovery.