Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent
MELBOURNE, Apr. 4 -- Australian Worldwide Exploration Ltd. Group, Sydney, is expecting the "Umuroa" floating production, storage, and offloading vessel to reach its Tui area oil development off New Zealand in mid-April. The field is on Taranaki basin permit PMP 38158 about 50 km offshore (OGJ Online, May 8, 2006).
The FPSO sailed from Singapore this week.
AWE, which became project operator after acquiring New Zealand Overseas Petroleum Ltd. in early 2006, said it anticipates starting production June 30. Peak production is expected to be about 50,000 b/d.
AWE holds a 42.5% interest in Tui field. Japanese company Mitsui has 35%, New Zealand Oil & Gas subsidiary Stewart Petroleum holds 12.5%, and Pan Pacific Petroleum NL of Sydney has 10%.
