Update on Cheal C1 (Cardiff)
08/06/2011Cheal Continues to Deliver for TAGVancouver-headquartered TAG spudded Cheal-C1 on May 20, primarily to test the shallow Miocene-aged Urenui and Mount Messenger Formation sands encountered by the original Cardiff-1 well drilled by operator Shell New Zealand in 1992.
TAG yesterday afternoon said it had deepened the well, from a target depth of about 2100m to a total depth of 2382m, to test the downdip edge of a large closure within the deeper Miocene-aged Moki Formation.
The company said it had now set production casing to the revised total depth in order to production flow test the light oil potential identified in both the Mt Messenger and Moki targets, which is usually found at depths of about 1600m and 2200m respectively across much of Taranaki.
It intercepted more than 15m of net oil and gas bearing sandstones in the Mt Messenger sands, with good porosity and free oil encountered while drilling through the zone.
Strong oil and gas shows were also encountered within a 73m thick, high quality section of porous and permeable sandstone within the deeper Moki.
It is known TAG also experienced some good shows in the Urenui but decided to concentrate on the two lower formations with Cheal-C1.
TAG acquired the Cardiff lease PMP 38156-D from former operator Austral Pacific Energy (44.9%) and integrated energy company Genesis Energy (55.1%) last September, more than a year after acquiring bankrupt Austral’s 69.5% stake in the nearby Cheal oil field, lease PMP 38156-S.
It now runs Cheal, which flows from the Urenui and Mt Messenger formations, and Cardiff, now called Cheal-C, as the single mining lease PMP 38156, reflecting the close proximity of the two fields and TAG’s desire to develop both resources.
Cheal-C1 was drilled directionally from a new Cheal-C wellsite and drilled about 3.5 kilometres to the northwest of the existing Mt Messenger producing Cheal wells.
TAG said these latest results extended the Mt Messenger oil saturation area over a considerably larger area than previously known.
It also said any future wells directly targeting the Moki would be drilled in an updip position, which could potentially intersect substantially more of the hydrocarbon charged Moki sands.
"We are very pleased to have extended the Mount Messenger play into the C block and look forward to further exploiting this oil-prone area," TAG chief executive officer Garth Johnson said.
"We're also very optimistic about the Moki formation discovery potential, which is a prolific oil producer in the offshore Maari oil field.
“However, very few wells have targeted this formation onshore so we will need flow test data before any conclusions are reached in regards to its commercial potential,” he added.
These results augur well for a second well, Cheal-C2, which TAG has already said it may drill, depending on the outcome of the Cheal-C1 testing.
A second Cheal-C well will not be drilled at the earliest, however, until fellow Canadian company New Zealand Energy Corporation and partner L&M Energy have finished their Talon-1 drilling program in nearby lease PEP 51151 (Alton) utilising the Ensign Rig 19 that drilled Cheal-C1.
