Cheal Oil Field Development
October 10 2006 - 7:20PM
PR Newswire (US)
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Austral
Pacific Energy Ltd. (TSX-V: APX; NZSX: APX; AMEX: AEN) announced
today that drilling of the first of the development wells in the
Cheal oil field commenced on Tuesday 10 October. The Cheal oil
field is located in Petroleum Mining Permit 38156 in the onshore
Taranaki Basin. Austral Pacific holds a 36.5 percent interest in
the Cheal oil field and is the operator. The Cheal B1 well is the
first of four wells to be drilled back-to-back from the Cheal B
site as part of the Cheal oil field development. The Cheal B wells
are planned to intersect Mt Messenger and Moki targets identified
from the interpretation of the Brecon 3D seismic. In making the
announcement Chief Executive Officer Rick Webber said "The
commencement of the drilling of the Cheal B wells marks a
significant milestone in this project. The Cheal Joint Venture has
put in a place a development programme which will deliver oil
production of approximately 1000 barrels a day during 1Q 2007,
rising to approximately 1900 barrels a day during 2Q 2007." An
independent reserves estimate by an internationally recognized
engineering firm has estimated total gross proved, probable and
possible remaining reserves as of 31st December 2005 of 4.4 million
barrels oil for Cheal. The commencement of the development drilling
from the Cheal B site comes less than three months after the
partners approved the development of the Cheal oil field and
follows the award of the mining permit in July. Petroleum Mining
Permit 38156 provides for production from the Cheal oil field for
an initial term of 10 years with a right to extend the duration of
the permit following the delineation of further reserves. Total
expenditure for the development is budgeted at NZ$25 million (US$16
million). Following completion of the drilling of the wells at the
Cheal B site the Ensign Energy Services Rig 19 will be moved to the
Cheal A site to drill two further development wells. At the same
time as drilling commences from the Cheal A site, a programme of
continuous well testing will start on the Cheal B wells. In
addition to the drilling of new wells at the Cheal A site, the
existing Cheal A3X and A4 wells will be worked over and
re-completed. The workovers are planned to commence in December
2006. Mr Webber commented that long term production testing from
the Cheal A4 well using interim production facilities will continue
until the Cheal B wells are ready for testing. The extended
production test of the Cheal A4 well will enable the joint venture
participants to undertake further monitoring of the reservoir
performance ahead of the commissioning of the field's permanent
processing facilities in 1Q 2007. Web site:
http://www.austral-pacific.com/ Email: Contact: Rick Webber, CEO,
+64 (4) 495-0888 None of the Exchanges upon which Austral Pacific's
securities trade have approved or disapproved the contents hereof.
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable
legislation. Other than statements of historical fact, all
statements in this release addressing future production, reserve
potential, exploration and development activities and other
contingencies are forward-looking statements. Although management
believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking
statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are
not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or
developments may differ materially from those in the
forward-looking statements, due to factors such as market prices,
exploration and development successes, continued availability of
capital and financing, and general economic, market, political or
business conditions. See our public filings at
http://www.sedar.com/ and
http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm for further
information. DATASOURCE: Austral Pacific Energy Ltd. CONTACT: Rick
Webber, CEO, of Austral Pacific Energy Ltd., +64-4-495-0888, or Web
site: http://www.austral-pacific.com/
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