OMV: First oil flows at Maari (New Zealand)

Austria’s OMV has announced “first oil” from its Maari redevelopment drilling campaign in New Zealand.

The Maari redevelopment drilling campaign in New Zealand, also known as the Maari Growth project, aims to increase reserves, production and recovery from the producing Maari field.

The well, known as MR-8A, was started on November 28 producing from a previously undrained compartment in the Maari field. The well was side-tracked out of an abandoned injection well and drilled horizontally into the Moki formation to a total length of 3,824 m. The production capacity for this well has been estimated at 4,500 barrels of oil per day (gross).

Jaap Huijskes, OMV Executive Board member responsible for Exploration and Production: “It is a great achievement to revitalize an existing field. Conditions in the Tasman Sea are challenging and remote but the team has been able to safely deliver the project. Additional production from Maari through existing facilities will greatly improve efficiency and reduce operating cost per barrel.”

In April 2014, the offshore drilling rig Ensco-107 was installed in the field carrying out abandonment, workover and drilling operations. The first well was drilled into the untapped Mangahewa formation and has been suspended to implement a revised completion concept. The MR-8A well is the second in the campaign.

The Maari Growth campaign includes drilling of five wells into producing and new reservoirs. Total investment of OMV will be around EUR 205 mn and the campaign is expected to be completed by mid-2015.

The Maari field is located in a water depth of 100 m, around 80 km off the Taranaki coast of New Zealand. The field was developed by OMV New Zealand as operator of the Maari Joint Venture (JV) and began production in February 2009. The field production has since declined from peak rates of approx. 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (net to OMV).

The Maari JV partners are: OMV New Zealand Ltd (69%, operator), Todd Maari Ltd (16%), Horizon Oil International Ltd (10%) and Cue Taranaki Pty Ltd (5%).