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The fourth and final development well at the offshore Taranaki Tui oilfield has been completed and the first oil could be flowing from the field within a week.
Pan Pacific Petroleum, which has a 10 per cent interest in Tui, said that the Ocean Patriot drilling rig was preparing to lift anchors at the Pateke-3H well.
It would move to the Hector prospect, to the southwest, to drill the first well in an upcoming Taranaki Basin exploration programme.
David Salisbury, chief executive with NZOG, which has 12.5 per cent of the Tui development, said other work at Tui was at an advanced stage and he was confident about the chance of first oil by the end of the month.
The other companies involved in Tui are AWE NZ with 20 per cent, NZ Overseas Petroleum with 22.5 per cent, and Mitsui E & P NZ with 35 per cent.
