Production from Tui likely to fall

Gas from a Tui well is used to power this oil production facility, the Umuroa. Photo / Supplied

Production from the Tui area oil fields off the Taranaki Coast is expected to fall by about two-fifths in the coming year, as rates decline naturally and one of the wells in the field is shut for repairs.

Operator AWE, which has a 42.5 per cent stake in the project, said 4.83 million barrels was produced from Tui in the year to June 30, slightly above a revised forecast of 4.8 million barrels.

It forecast production for the year to June 2011 of 2.84 million barrels, which took into account the recent shut-in of the Pateke-3H well - one of four producing wells at Tui - for repairs to its gas re-injection system.

Planning for a workover of the well was under way, with a restart to production from Pateke estimated to happen in the middle of the 2010 fourth quarter, AWE said.

New Zealand Oil & Gas, which is a 12.5 per cent partner in Tui, said production rates were in a natural decline, though an estimated 22.3 million barrels of recoverable reserves remained. NZOG said its share of Tui production in the past year was 604,000 barrels.

NZOG's shares closed down 1c at $1.23 on the NZX yesterday.

- NZPA