NZ Oil & Gas says Albacore-1 is not commercial

NZ Oil & Gas to plug Albacore-1 well, finds no commercial hydrocarbons

Dec. 14 (BusinessWire) - New Zealand Oil & Gas, which took a 40% interest in the Albacore-1 well four months ago, said the offshore Taranaki basin well failed to show commercial quantities of hydrocarbons and will be plugged and abandoned.

Shares of NZOG fell 2.9% to $1.67 after the company announced drilling had reached its total depth with only traces of hydrocarbons found. Denver-based Energy Corp. of America subsidiary Westech, the permit operator, sold down its holding to 50% from 90% to allow NZOG to take an interest in PEP 38491. Mighty River Power Gas Investments holds 10%.

Albacore-1 is an exploration well 70 kilometres north of New Plymouth that NZOG chief executive David Salisbury had said was a “very prospective part of the basin.” It was the first of at least four wells planned during NZOG’s summer drilling programme. The others include an exploration well called Hoki and two appraisal wells near the Tui oil field.

Albacore-1 was drilled using the ENSCO-107 jack-up rig, which is now returning to Singapore, having previously been used to drill production wells at the Maari oil field.

Salisbury had said NZOG's analysis was that Albacore was more likely to contain oil than gas and, if successful, could have supported an offshore development similar to Tui.

(BusinessWire)

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