New Zealand find could contain up to 500 mm barrels

A new oil field on New Zealand's North Island could contain up to 500 mm barrels, making it the country's largest, a Texas energy exploration company said. Separately, New Zealand resources concern Fletcher Challenge said a natural gas field in the same region could contain as much as half a tcf of gas.

Terry Swift, of Houston-based Swift Energy, said the Rimu oil field, about 185 miles southwest of Auckland, had flow-tested 1,527 barrels of oil and about 5 mm cfpd of gas. The oil flow would come to more than 2,000 bpd in production. Swift said the partners in the exploration project believe they have only intersected the edge of the field and that the nearby Kauri structure, which is partially offshore, could contain between 200 mm and 500 mm barrels of oil.
Swift will drill another two wells in the Rimu field starting midyear, followed by a test well in the adjacent Kauri prospect. Fletcher Energy COO Lloyd Taylor said a decision on the Pohokura-1 gas find, located 3 miles off the Taranakicoast, would likely be made in the second week of April. Commercial development could occur within three years, he said.