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Singapore company STP Energy takes over Awakino South-1 permit
5 September 2008, Source: STP Energy and Lindsay Clark - A Singapore-based company STP Energy Pte Ltd which has taken over ownership of offshore North Taranaki PEP 38479 exploration acreage has taken the Ensco-56 jackup rig to the Awakino South-1 wellsite.
STP Energy recently acquired 100% interest in the permit from Texas-based Discovery Geo and its partners. STP Energy plans to drill this well in the southern part of the long permit followed by a second well Kahu-1 in the same permit.
The Ensco-56 rig which drilled the Pohokura offshore wells left Port Taranaki for the site after being held in port for two weeks by bad weather. Since finishing work at Pohokura the rig spent over a month in Nelson for maintenance work.
For this project Australian Drilling Associates has engineered the wells and will manage the execution phase of the two exploration wells on behalf of Asian Drilling Services, the technical partner of STP Energy.
PEP 38479 is the only acreage owned by STP Energy in New Zealand.
Awakino South-1 well will be drilled to about 3,000 metres to target a sub-thrust Mangahewa sandstone play, about seven kilometres from the coast off Awakino.
Earlier this year Discovery Geo’s operation manager Dr Bruce Morris said that the plan for the Awakino South-1 well was to drill a deviated well, then drill a lateral well horizontally through the Tikorangi limestone formation. This would test shows recorded in the Tikorangi by the Awakino-1 well drilled in 1985 by Petrocorp.
Dr Morris said that Awakino-1 had not reached as deep as the Mangahewa Formation.
