minor incident, page-6

Australian Worldwide Says It's Waiting on News of Oil Leak

By Angela Macdonald-Smith and Gavin Evans

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Australian Worldwide Exploration Ltd., operator of the $269 million Tui oil project in New Zealand, said it's waiting to hear from authorities whether degraded oil washed onto a beach off the North Island coast comes from the project.

A sample of Tui crude has been supplied to Maritime New Zealand to be compared to the oil washed up on the island's west coast, Sydney-based Australian Worldwide said today in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange. The company isn't aware of any leaks, said Managing Director Bruce Wood.

Taranaki Regional Council said yesterday it began cleaning up oil that washed onto an estimated 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of the coast and was investigating the source of the oil. Tui, New Zealand's first offshore oil project in 11 years which started up in late July, lies about 60 kilometers from the affected area.

``We're operating smoothly,'' Wood said in an interview. ``Obviously there is the possibility to be proven that this was an unrecognized minor release from the vessel. We're waiting for news.''

Tui is producing on average more than 40,000 barrels a day of oil and is set to reach 10 million barrels by the end of June. Mitsui & Co., New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd. and Pan Pacific Petroleum NL own stakes in the venture