Staff praised after OMV wins award

Staff praised after OMV wins award

OMV NZ Ltd wins ‘Petroleum project of the year’ at inaugural ‘Deloitte Energy Excellence Awards’

Award recognises longest oil well ever drilled in New Zealand

OMV has paid tribute to the skills of both its staff and its contractors after winning a „Petroleum Project of the Year award.

The award was for the drilling of the Manaia oil field, and was given to OMV at the countrys inaugural „Deloitte Energy Excellence Awards held in Wellington last night.

Nearly eight kilometres in length, the Manaia well was the longest ever drilled in New Zealand.

“The project set a new benchmark for drilling in New Zealand,” said Wayne Kirk, Managing Director of OMV New Zealand.

“The award is fantastic recognition for the skill of all the people involved.”

58 New Zealand staff were hired to work full time on the drilling rig for the duration of the 60 days the project took to complete.

“If you can imagine it, youre sitting on a platform 100 metres above sea level, 80 kilometres out in the ocean. From there you have to drill a well eight times the length of the Auckland Harbour Bridge, and hit a spot, no wider than rugby goalposts, two kilometres under the surface of the sea,” said Dr Kirk.

“New Zealand might not have a large oil industry, but the complexity of the operation, and the pioneering approaches used, means it was right up to world best practice level.

“Were especially pleased there were no discharges to the environment, despite having to remove 1300 tonnes of „cuttings – rock, sand and other debris – from the drill hole,” he said.

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“The project was also completed without a single workplace injury, below budget and under the time wed allowed. We couldnt have asked for more really.”

Dr Kirk said the drill rig used was attached to the nearby Maari oilfield platform, thus avoiding the need to bring in another rig that could have been hostage to bad weather on the Tasman Sea.

“This has created the possibility of bringing the Manaia field into production much earlier that it would otherwise have been, and we hope to begin production testing next month.”

The Manaia field is located approximately 10km south west of the Maari oil field Maari. The combined appraisal and production well targeted what is known as the Mangahewa formation. The Maari and Manaia fields are operated by OMV NZ Ltd on behalf of the Maari Joint Venture partners OMV New Zealand, Todd Maari Ltd, Horizon Oil International, and Cue Taranaki Pty Ltd.

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