Kuala Lumpur, 10 July 2020
Sapura Energy Berhad (“Sapura Energy”) is pleased to announce that its associate company, SapuraOMV Upstream Sdn. Bhd. (“SapuraOMV”) together with Joint Venture partners Mitsui Exploration and Production Australia Pty Ltd (“Mitsui E&P Australia”) and OMV New Zealand Limited (“OMV NZ”) have made a discovery with a positive result in the Toutouwai-1 exploration well in the Taranaki Basin, in New Zealand. The prospect is located 50 kilometres off the Taranaki coast in 130 metres of water.
Drilling commenced in the Petroleum Exploration Permit (PEP) 60093 in early March 2020 and the target reservoir was successfully reached in April 2020. Preliminary results are encouraging with several hydrocarbon charged layers encountered in the Cretaceous sandstones.
“The positive discovery of Toutouwai opens up an exciting opportunity for us,” remarked SapuraOMV CEO Muhammad Zamri Jusoh. “This would create value and further reinforce our overall growth plan as we remain agile in these challenging times.”
SapuraOMV is a strategic partnership between Sapura Energy and OMV Aktiengesellschaft.
Currently, SapuraOMV is working with the Toutouwai Joint Venture partners, Mitsui E&P Australia and OMV NZ, on the additional work required to determine the well’s commercial viability. Given the operational risks posed to the offshore exploration drilling programme from the COVID-19 virus, the testing phase had to be curtailed.
The Toutouwai-1 exploration well is the third and final well in OMV NZ’s 2019/2020 exploration drilling campaign. At present, the well has safely been plugged and abandoned in accordance with New Zealand’s stringent regulatory requirements.
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