Offshore staff
(Asia-Pacific) - Horizon Oil plans to proceed with the development of offshore New Zealand's Maari Field, in which it holds a 10% interest.
On Sept. 16, 2005, the joint venture filed a petroleum mining permit application with the New Zealand Department of Economic Development. The permit, which will grant Horizon Oil and its partners production rights for a period of 25 years, is expected
to be granted in early November.
The Maari field lies approximately 80 km offshore Taranaki in 100 m of water. The field was discovered in 1983 and is fully appraised, with four wells drilled on the structure.
The primary reservoir and the initial focus of the development plan is the Moki
formation, which flowed over 3,650 b/d per day in the Maari-1 test. Estimated proven and probable reserves in the Moki Formation are approximately 50 MMbbl of recoverable oil.
Horizon Oil's CEO, Brent Emmett, says, "We believe the technical risks associated with the development have been eliminated or minimized by way of a thorough design and planning process, and cost exposure has been reduced by obtaining fixed price tenders for the key capital components.
"The project is financially robust and, as announced on Aug. 30, 2005, BOS International, a subsidiary of the Bank of Scotland, will provide a comprehensive
project finance facility incorporating senior debt completion support and hedge instrument financing, of up to $40 million.
This will be a quality development of the largest oil accumulation offshore New Zealand with�in our judgment�considerable upside potential beyond the stated reserves."
10/07/06
