Oil and gas discovery in Taranaki

24 September 2004

Oil and gas discovery in Taranaki

Natural gas and oil have been discovered at the Radnor site, near Stratford in Taranaki, by Bridge Petroleum Limited, a New Zealand company.

This discovery is significant and is the first discovery to be made since the Government announced its new royalty regime for the petroleum exploration sector. This is designed to encourage new natural gas finds.

"This is an exciting find. It is a deep well in the Kapuni Sands, and is a redrill of an earlier Stratford well," Kevin Johnson, executive director of Bridge Petroleum Limited, said.

Radnor 1 well was drilled to a depth of 4,358m in 35 days and encountered the primary Kapuni sand target structurally high to the previous wells, Stratford 1 and 1A drilled in 1983 and 1990 respectively. Bridge Petroleum acquired an exploration permit over the block in 2002 and conducted a 3D seismic survey in 2003.
A production test of the interval 4,290m to 4,296m achieved an estimated stable flow rate of 4.0 million cubic feet per day on a 1/4 inch choke at a flowing tubing pressure of 3,270 psi.

Further testing will be conducted shortly depending on equipment availability.
A production station will be built on the site with new gas and liquids pipelines installed for transportation.
Gas and oil should come on line in the first three months of next year once a new production station is commissioned.

A further well, Radnor 2 is planned to be drilled in the early New Year.

Bridge Petroleum holds a two-thirds interest in the well with Westech Energy New Zealand holding the other third. Methanex New Zealand Limited has a priority entitlement to the gas produced.

ENDS

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