Coronavirus: Offshore exploration in limbo as drilling rig set to leave Taranaki with unfinished business
Tuesday, 31 March 2020
The future of offshore exploration drilling in New Zealand may be finalised within days.
The COSL Prospector rig was contracted to Austrian oil and gas company OMV to drill off Taranaki during 2020 but it is now likely to finish up this week because exploration drilling was not considered an essential service in the coronavirus alert level 4 lockdown, an OMV spokesman said.
The company is about to complete drilling the first well - Toutouwai-1 - as it would not have been feasible to stop work during the programme, he said.
Results on the quantity of oil and gas reserves from Toutouwai-1 are expected within days, he said.
It was scheduled to drill the Maui-8 well following Toutouwai but this is now unlikely, he said.
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The rig arrived in Taranaki in February with protesters illegally boarding the vessel on part of its voyage from an unsuccessful exploration campaign in the Great South Basin.
Beforehand it drilled a 'dry' well at the Tui field off Taranaki in late 2019 with Tamarind Taranaki, which is now in liquidation.
OMV have also suspended the Maui A Crestal Infill re-development campaign with the Archer Emerald rig, as it was considered too risky managing shift changes involving a large international workforce, and Covid-19, he said.
Six wells had been planned during the 12 month programme using the Archer Emerald to extend the life of the Maui gas field.
OMV expected to complete the maintenance programme at Pohokura offshore gas pipeline by mid-April, ensuring supply of gas to New Zealand industry, he said.
The project was deemed an essential service and too critical for the future of gas supply not to continue, he said.
Internationally OMV has reacted to the coronavirus crisis by reducing investments in 2020 by 20 per cent, cutting costs by around $360 million and delaying acquisition projects, industry publication OffshoreEnergyToday.com reported this week.
Petroleum Exploration and Production Association chief executive John Carnegie said it would not be surprising if the Maui-8 well development did not continue.
Carnegie said there was still other important work in Taranaki, including development work both onshore and offshore.
'This is especially important now as our economy faces a major shock from Covid-19, and when our homes, hospitals and essential services are relying on our energy.'