WAITARIA 2 EXPLORATION WELL,
PEP 38335, EAST COAST NEW ZEALAND,
DRILLING AHEAD AT 1419 METRES.
Pancontinental Oil & Gas NL is pleased to announce that at 18:00 hrs (NZST) 13 February 2001, the Waitaria 2 exploration well was drilling ahead at a depth of 1419 metres in a sequence of Mid Miocene age interbedded claystones and sandstones of the top Tananui sandstone reservoir sequence.
The provisional top of the Tunanui sandstone has been placed at 1402 metres, given the gradational nature of the contact and the first appearance of minor, poor quality sandstone beds.
The target Tunanui sandstone is interpreted from local surface outcrop geological data to be in excess of 500 metres thick and consists of an interbedded sequence of marine sandstones and claystones. These data indicate that sandstones represent more than 50% of this sequence. The depositional environment of this unit produces a stacked sequence of sandstone reservoirs with variable thickness and variable reservoir quality. Waitaria 2 is being drilled to determine whether thick, commercial quality hydrocarbon reservoirs exist within this 500 metre thick sequence.
While drilling down to 1419 metres, background gas levels have increased, and ranged up to 0.15%, with chromatograph readings of methane, C1 (923ppm), and ethane, C2 (73ppm). Mud weights have been decreased slightly to 14.8ppg.
The Waitaria 2 well will be drilled to a proposed total depth of approximately 1829 metres, a depth at which it is expected the deepest potential reservoirs of the Tunanui sandstone will be penetrated. Electric logs will then be run to evaluate the open-hole section and define reservoirs that justify production testing.
Pancontinental Oil and Gas NL announced previously that it had reached agreement with Westech Energy New Zealand to earn a 7.5% equity in PEP 38335, East Coast Basin of the North Island of New Zealand, by contributing 10.0% of the US $1.327 million drilling costs of the Waitaria 2 well. Pancontinental will only contribute 7.5% to additional drilling, completion and testing costs. This agreement is still subject to final Government approval.
The Waitaria prospect has been delineated by a close grid of modern 2D seismic data. The prospect has been mapped by the operator to have 4 way dip closure over an area of 6 square kilometres and vertical closure of 700 metres at a level immediately above the primary Mid-Miocene age Tunanui sandstone target reservoir.
The operator has estimated that the potential recoverable reserves of the Waitaria prospect are 88 million barrels oil or 360 billion cubic feet gas.
PEP 38335 covers an area of 409 square kilometres and incorporates the regional city of Gisborne. Approximately 50 kilometres to the south-west, in the Westech operated PEP 38329 permit, are the late 1998 Kauhauroa and Awatare gas discoveries, adjacent to the town of Wairoa. The Kauhauroa and Awatare gas discoveries are in Miocene reservoirs and recorded test gas flows of up to 11.5 million cubic feet per day.
Participating interests in PEP 38335 (after earning) are :-
| Pancontinental Oil and Gas NL | 7.5% |
| Westech Energy New Zealand | 27.5% (Operator) |
| Orion Exploration Ltd | 27.5% |
| Indo-Pacific Energy (NZ) Ltd | 25.0% |
| Sun Resources NL | 7.5% |
| Everest Energy Inc | 5.0% |
Enquiries:
Andrew Svalbe
Tel: 08 9227 7178
Fax: 08 9227 9079
Email: svalbe@pancon.com.au
