The Kan Tan IV semisubmersible drilling rig began drilling the Pateke-4H well in PMP 38158 on 9 February 2014. The rig drilled a 36in. hole to a depth of 234m, and preparations are being made to run and cement a 30in. conductor.
The Pateke-4H development well is in PMP 38158 and AWE is the operator. Located in the offshore Taranaki Basin, New Zealand, PMP 38158 contains the Tui, Amokura and Pateke fields and has been producing since 2007. Pateke-4H is targeting a mapped northern extension of the currently producing Pateke field. If successful, the well will be completed for subsequent tie-back to the Tui FPSO Umuroa for production in 2015.
Pateke-4H is a northern extension of the existing Pateke reservoir in the producing Tui area oil fields, about 50km off the coast of Taranaki, New Zealand, in water depth of about 124m. The well is expected to take around two months to drill to a planned total measured depth of 5361m, including a 1271m horizontal section.
The aim of the Pateke-4H well is to explore a northern extension of the Pateke lobe that geologists believe may not be fully exploited by the current producing well, Pateke-3H.
According to New Zealand Oil and Gas, the theory being tested is that the reservoir in the Pateke structure is separated into two areas, and that southern area was drained by the 3H well in the early stages of the Tui development, while the northern may not have been and is the target of the 4H well.
The well is being drilled horizontally because the reservoir is thought to be over 1000m wide but less than 10m deep, reducing the ability of a vertical well to recover efficiently.
Production from the Tui fields began on 30 July 2007, and is expected to continue until around 2020. To date the field has produced over 30MMbo.
The Tui development comprises four horizontally drilled and subsea completed wells. The extended horizontal production sections in the oil reservoirs range from 819m to 1850m. Each is tied back to the Umuroa, where the oil is processed before being exported via export tankers destined for refineries on Australia’s eastern seaboard. In May 2008, an agreement was signed extending the charter of the FPSO through to 2015, with one year rights of renewal until 2022.
JV partners in the PMP 38158 are:
AWE Ltd. (operator, 57.5%)
New Zealand Oil and Gas (27.5%)
Pan Pacific Petroleum (15%)
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