A new ultra deep-water drill ship could be drilling exploratory bores in both the Canterbury Basin and Great South Basin in summer next year, on a cost-share basis between oil giants Anadarko and Shell.
Anadarko has just announced a one-year drilling deferment off the coast of Oamaru, until late 2013, but confirmed it has recently been in "initial talks" with Shell on cost sharing to bring the vessel, Noble Bob Douglas, to New Zealand for its inaugural contract; after its commissioning from a South Korean shipyard in Ulsan.
The estimated cost to Anadarko of bringing the long-term leased vessel to New Zealand, including two months drilling two holes off Oamaru, is about $US160 million ($NZ197 million).
Anadarko's New Zealand corporate affairs manager, Alan Seay, confirmed initial talks with Shell had taken place on cost sharing to bring the drill ship to New Zealand for its maiden voyage.
However, the respective companies' drill programmes would have to coincide at the same time, during a six-month drilling window, and a final decision on cost sharing "was a long way off yet", Mr Seay said yesterday.
The offshore deepwater exploration plans of Anadarko, Shell and Brazilian company Petrobas in New Zealand are all coming under increasing environmental scrutiny, in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill which killed 11 and leaked five million barrels of crude oil, becoming the worst environmental disaster in the US.
Anadarko is an a 50:50 joint venture with listed Australian company Origin Energy in exploring the oil and gas prospects Caravel and Carrack, 65km north of Dunedin, which lie in depths of more than 1000m. In August 2010, Anadarko pledged $US30 million towards Canterbury exploration.
The last exploration rigs off Oamaru, were Ocean Patriot in 2006, for Tap Oil and Australian Worldwide Exploration, and BP Shell Todd's Zapata Arctic, in 1985. Neither found commercial quantities.
Mr Seay confirmed estimated costs to drill off Oamaru had risen, from $NZ124 million more than a year ago to almost $NZ200 million. That only underscored that offshore exploration remained a "capital intensive" investment.
Separately, in the Canterbury Basin, listed New Zealand Oil & Gas has only until the end of the month to secure a financial partner to test drill its oil and gas Barque prospect. It has to make a "drill or drop [the permit]" decision by August 31.
In the Great South Basin, Shell and its partners have spent more than $50 million over five years on ship-borne seismic surveys with "good indications" of the presence of natural gas, but have said it could be up to two years before a decision was made on test drilling.
New drill ship
• Owner of "ultra deep-water drill ship" Noble Bob Douglas, Noble Corporation, announced less than a month ago Anadarko had entered into a three-year $US677 million ($NZ824 million) contract to lease the vessel at a day-rate of $US618,000.
• Still under construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea, and scheduled for completion by October next year, the vessel is one of four "ultra deep-water drill ships" under construction.
• It will operate in water depths to 12,000 feet (3650m) and have a drilling depth of 40,000 feet (12,200m). The ship will use a dynamic positioning system to maintain station at sea, have a variable deck load of 20,000 tonnes, a 165-tonne construction crane and accommodate up to 210 staff.
SOURCE: NOBLE CORP
