OMV Successfully Completes Maari Redevelopment Project Off New Zealand

Austria's OMV New Zealand Ltd. announced Thursday the successful completion of the Maari redevelopment project in New Zealand.

The Maari Growth drilling campaign is now completed and Maari's field production capacity is expected to double with the last well (MR-10) currently being tied-in to the production network.

Over the 15-month long project, four new wells were drilled with a total of 71,063 feet (21,660 meters) measured length. More than 1.5 million man-hours and over $335.2 million (NZD 500 million) have been invested in the project. The Maari Growth project was the first development activity to be granted a Marine consent for offshore development drilling after the new EEZ act came into force.

Drilling commenced in April 2014 utilizing the jackup ENSCO-107 (400' ILC) (which had undergone an extensive re-fit and full bio security cleaning in Singapore before being brought to New Zealand.

"Redeveloping a producing, mature field is never an easy task,” OMV New Zealand's Managing Director Peter Zeilinger said. "The team has delivered an outstanding safety record with no lost time injury on the platforms. Simultaneous drilling, production and construction activities have been managed efficiently and safely."

The ENSCO-107 drilling rig is currently being prepared to demobilize from the Maari field, with the exact time frame depending on a suitable weather window.

The Maari field is located in a water depth of 328 feet (100 meters), around 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the Taranaki coast of New Zealand. The field was developed by OMV New Zealand as operator of the Maari Joint Venture (JV) and began production in February 2009. It now has a total of 11 wells, a combination of production and water-injection. The new wells all use existing slots of the well-head platform.

Maari’s field production capacity has naturally declined over the last 6 years from its peak of around 40,000 barrels of oil per day to about a quarter of the maximum rates.

Once the final well of the campaign has been tied in to the infrastructure, field capacity is expected to reach close to 20,000 barrels per day (13,800 barrels per day net to OMV), doubling pre Maari Growth capacity.

The Maari JV partners are: OMV New Zealand Ltd. (69 percent, operator), Todd Maari Ltd. (16 percent), Horizon Oil International Ltd. (10 percent) and Cue Taranaki Pty Ltd. (5 percent).



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