Looks as though the AWE plans to really have a go at developing...

Looks as though the AWE plans to really have a go at developing reserves around tui in upcomming drilling campign.

AWE plans major development of wider Tui field
29 August 2008, Source: AWE and Lindsay Clark - Australian Worldwide Exploration is planning a major expansion of the Tui oil field next year.

The company has announced in a presentation to investors that it plans to accelerate the next phase of drilling in its Taranaki permits in a 6 to 8 well campaign over nine months starting in early 2009.

The campaign, costing an estimated A$300 million, would be a mixture of exploration appraisal and development wells. Timing of the drilling was contingent on rig contracting.

The campaign will focus mainly on the Tui field in the subtle low-relief Kapuni F sands within 1-20 km from the eastern and southern edges of the main Tui oil pool.

As many as four appraisal wells may be drilled in the area plus a previously announced third horizontal development well Tui-4H into the Tui pool.

In a presentation outlining it’s 2008-10 exploration programme, AWE provides a map showing four potential reservoir areas to the south and east of the Tui pool. They are named as Kahu Crest, Kahu Stratigraphic, Tui North East and Tui South East (which are shown on the map as linked together by a narrow “waist”) and Tui South West.

The map shows two of the wells would be drilled from near where the two present Tui wellheads (Tui-3H and Tui-4H) are sited. One of the new wells (Tui-5H) would go into the Tui South West pool, a 2-3 km wide potential reservoir extension to the main pool. The Tui-4H would be drilled to the north west part of the main Tui pool.

Three other wells would be drilled from a site six kilometres to the east to test three other potential reservoirs called Tui NE, Kahu Crest and Kahu Stratigraphic.

One of the presentation graphics has marked out an undersea terminal for a gas export line from the Tui field to the Maui gas field which lies less than 20 km from Tui.

Garry Marsden, corporate development manager for AWE in Sydney when questioned about this gas export line, would only say that there had been recent newspaper reports of discussions between AWE and the Maui Partners about linking pipeline networks.

Some associated gas produced with the Tui oil is currently used for processing on board the Tui FPSO vessel Umaroa and the remainder flared.

AWE said it also planned during its Taranaki campaign to drill an exploration well Hoki-1 into the Hoki prospect in PEP 38401 where the company has located a substantial closure.

Two other exploration wells are named on the drilling schedule for the second half of 2009.

Mr Marsden said the Malvern-1 was scheduled for PEP 38524 in offshore south Taranaki and the Bahamas-1 well shown on the list was not yet allocated to a permit area.

AWE reported its profit for the year ended 30 June 2008 was A$264 million, a 647% rise on the 2007 year profit of A$35.4 million.

Sales revenue rose to A$821.5 million, up 470% from the previous year’s A$144 million.

AWE said the significant revenue increases followed the “exceptional initial performance of the Tui oil fields”.

The company also reported that it had paid New Zealand income tax of $131.2 million in the 2007-08 year plus a New Zealand royalty, an accounting profits tax, of $73.8 million.