Drilling for rock samples at Whangara

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Drilling for rock samples at Whangara

Monday, February 18, 2013

A PETROLEUM exploration company’s drilling of a well to seek rock samples is on track to start this week.

The stratigraphic well will be sunk at Glenchoille Station, just off Christopher Road at Whangara.

It is part of work by TAG Oil subsidiary Eastern Petroleum under its 50945 Petroleum Exploration Permit.

It is the fifth such hole to be drilled on the property — four completed in early 2011 — and TAG geophysicist Liam Hurley says the work should take no longer than 10 days.

It was unlikely to be disruptive, though some traffic management might be required during the mobilisation and demobilisation of the rig.

The well to be drilled would be a slim bore hole similar to those drilled for water wells, TAG spokesman Chris Wikaira said.

“It will be drilled to about 450 metres to collect rock samples in order to age-date the stratigraphy (rock layers) in the area . . . it is not an oil or gas exploration well,” he said.

“After the rock samples are taken, the hole will be plugged and the site returned to how it was.

Once the rock data from this stratigraphic well is evaluated, a decision will be made if another deeper well will be drilled under the permit.”

The data collected from the new well will be pivotal to Eastern Petroleum’s decision as to whether it will hold or surrender its permit at Whangara.

Under the work programme conditions of the permit, it has only until early April to finish drilling an exploration well.

If it does so, it has until April, 2014 to complete a prospectivity report.

Comments

Peter Jones

05:19 p.m. Monday, Feb 18, 2013

I see three new oil rigs are coming to NZ.
That represents millions of dollars of investment in potentially environmentally damaging scenarios.
Whether permission is official or still in the pipeline seems irrelevant at this point because they are coming.
The recent earthquake off Te Araroa means nothing to these talking heads.
I guess they would call something like that an "unforseen event" that best practice could not avoid and therefore not their fault.

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