Offshore staff
AUKLAND, New Zealand -- Origin Energy Ltd says the 17-in (43-cm) section of the Kupe South 7 (KS-7) well reached a depth of 1,852 m (6,076 ft) MD from rotary table on Jan. 9.
Drilling of the 17-in section will continue to the planned depth of 2,000 m (6,562 ft) at which point the 13-3/8 in (34 cm) casing will be run and cemented.
Upon completion, the 17 in section of Kupe South 8 (KS-8) will be drilled and cased. This will be followed by drilling of the 12-1/4 in (31 cm) sections of KS-6, KS-7 and KS-8.
Each of the three production wells will be drilled by theENSCO 107 jackup drilling rig to a vertical depth of about 3,400 m (11,155 ft). Drilling began on Dec. 19, 2007.
The Kupe drilling campaign is on a "batch-drilling" basis, said Origin. This process involves completing the same section of each of the three wells before proceeding to the subsequent section and is a more efficient approach than drilling the wells separately, the company said.
Origin is the operator with 50% stake in the Kupe Gas Project. Genesis Energy subsidiaries have 31%, New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd subsidiaries hold 15% and Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Ltd has 4%.
01/10/2008
