New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd (NZOG) advises that at 14:00 hours on 05 March, coring of the 8-1/2 inch section of the Kupe South 6 (KS-6) well had been completed and drilling had reached a depth of 3,313m MDRT.

As anticipated, KS-6 encountered a hydrocarbon column in the Farewell Formation. The planned total depth for the section is 3,385m MDRT. Upon completion, it is planned to conduct wire-line logging prior to setting and cementing the 5 inch liner.

The Kupe Project drilling campaign is being undertaken on a “batch-drilling” basis. This process involves completing the same section of each of the three wells before proceeding to the subsequent section and is a more efficient approach than drilling the wells separately.

The Kupe Project is located within permit PML38146 in the offshore Taranaki Basin, New Zealand, approximately 30km off the coast. The development will comprise production wells tied into an unmanned offshore platform, a 30 km pipeline to shore, and an onshore processing station.

The Kupe Project is expected to be completed by mid-2009 and produce approximately 254 petajoules of natural gas, 1.1 million tones of LPG and 14.7 million barrels of light oil (condensate).

Tags: New Zealand Oil and Gas Ltd