Millions pledged to tap into rimu

United States explorer Swift Energy will build a multimillion-dollar processing plant in South Taranaki so it can bring up to four Rimu oil wells into commercial production by mid-2001.

The size and cost of the project, near Mokoia, has yet to be finalised, but up to $25 million could be spent by Swift and its partners over the next few years.

The Rimu plant, and the proposed $300 million development of the Pohokura field off North Taranaki, will be welcomed by a flat Taranaki engineering sector that has struggled in the last year or so without any big projects on the horizon.

Swift Energy executive vice-president Bruce Vincent said his company had already done preliminary design work on gas processing facilities and a staged development was most likely, in tandem with further well drilling and detailed assessment of the recoverable oil and gas reserves.

Swift is an independent oil and natural gas company founded in 1979 and based in Houston, Texas.

It believes the Rimu-A1 discovery well and the Rimu-B1 and 2 appraisal wells should each be capable of producing up to 2000 barrels of oil a day as well as nine million cubic feet of gas daily.

A fourth well, Rimu-A2, is planned to be drilled from the A well site this year, followed by the partners' first drilling into the nearby larger Kauri prospect.

- NZPA