OMV frontier well off New Zealand comes up dry

Feb. 20, 2020
The OMV-operated Tawhaki-1 wildcat in the Great South basin off the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island has been plugged as a dry hole.

The OMV-operated Tawhaki-1 wildcat in the Great South basin off the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island has been plugged as a dry hole.

OMV said the frontier deep water well in permit PEP50119, drilled by the COSL Prospector rig, reached a target depth of 2980 m. Data obtained during the drilling indicated an absence of hydrocarbons in the target reservoir.

Beach Energy Ltd., Adelaide, farmed into the permit in mid-December to take a 30% share, giving the company an interest in all three permits in the basin (OGJ Online, Dec. 19, 2019).

The Tawhaki prospect is a basement drape structure defined by modern 3D seismic data and it was hoped the Cretaceous-age reservoir would be similar to that found in the earlier Caravel-1 well to the north in Beach-operated permit PEP38264 which found gas shows.

Tawhaki-1 is the first well in a larger OMV-led drilling campaign using the COSL Prospector.

OMV holds 52.9%. Partners are Beach Energy 30% and Mitsui E&P Australia 17.07%.