Bligh may be on winner with Rimu well

The Rimu oil and gas find in Taranaki is rapidly firming up as a commercial discovery, with a second well flowing with such force that it required urgent pressure control, the well operators said.

Australian firm Bligh Oil and Minerals - which has a 5 per cent interest in the Rimu field near Hawera - told the Australian Stock Exchange that preliminary results from the just-drilled Rimu B-1 appraisal well were extremely encouraging.

While the quality of the reservoir had yet to be confirmed by log and other testing, Rimu B-1 was likely to be a "multiple zone discovery of major commercial significance," the company said.

Rimu B-1 is the first of three wells being drilled by operator and 90 per cent shareholder Swift Energy of Texas and its partners, Bligh Oil and Minerals and the Canadian-based Antrim Oil and Gas.

The first two wells are to test the size and hydrocarbon-bearing capacity of the Rimu field, and the third is to test the nearby offshore Kauri prospect.

Before Christmas the Rimu A1 well produced test flows of up to 1600 barrels of oil and 5 million cu ft of gas a day from the Tariki Sands geological zone.

Reservoir quality remained to be confirmed by electric log analysis, which would be conducted within the next 24 hours, said Bligh.

"Should the reservoir quality of the lower Tariki zone in the B-1 well be confirmed by log and test data, a multiple zone discovery of commercial significance could be indicated on the Rimu structure," Bligh said.

The company said that in view of the presence of the pay section, and because of the progressive deterioration of the wellbore, a decision had been made to log and case the well.

But the preliminary results were considered to be extremely encouraging.

- NZPA