Cardiff well hits a snag

"Good quality" tests are in for Taranaki's Cardiff 2 well, but a glitch may delay production testing for three weeks while part of the well is redrilled.

The well, a potentially large gas find, reached its target depth during the Christmas break.

It was being prepared for gas production testing, but prob-lems cementing around the well hole down to its target depth of almost 5000m means production testing could be delayed until next month.

Well operator Austral Pacific said "operational problems" during the cementing of a seven-inch(17.8cm) liner in the hole meant it was not "possible to access this section of the well".

"At the time of this report, efforts are under way to free the down-hole assembly," Austral Pacific said.

If that was not possible, the well would have to be deviated and redrilled from 3000m to the target depth of 4895m, which would take about three weeks.

It had earlier hoped to start testing late this month, in a process known as "fraccing" the gas bearing formations, to make it easier for the gas to flow to the well.

- NZPA