KUALA LUMPUR (July 10): Sapura Energy Bhd announced today that its associate company SapuraOMV Upstream Sdn Bhd, together with its joint venture partners Mitsui Exploration and Production Australia Ptv Ltd and OMV New Zealand Ltd have made a discovery with a positive result in the Toutouwai-1 exploration well at the Taranaki Basin, located in New Zealand.

In a statement, the group said the prospect is located 50 kilometres off the Taranaki coast in 130 metres of water.

“The positive discovery of Toutouwai opens up an exciting opportunity for us. This would create value and further reinforce our overall growth plan as we remain agile in these challenging times,” said SapuraOMV chief executive officer Muhammad Zamri Jusoh.

It added that drilling commenced in the Petroleum Exploration Permit (PEP) 60093 in early March 2020 and the target reservoir was successfully reached in April 2020.

According to Sapura Energy, preliminary results are encouraging with several hydrocarbon charged layers encountered in the Cretaceous sandstones.

SapuraOMV is a strategic partnership between Sapura Energy and OMV Aktiengesellschaft.

The group is currently working with Mitsui E&P Australia and OMV NZ, on the additional work required to determine the well’s commercial viability.

Given the operational risks posed to the offshore exploration drilling programme from the Covid-19 virus, the testing phase had to be restricted.

Sapura Energy said the Toutouwai-1 exploration well is the third and final well in OMV NZ’s 2019/2020 exploration drilling campaign. The well has safely been plugged and abandoned in accordance with New Zealand’s stringent regulatory requirements.

At noon market break, shares in Sapura Energy were traded unchanged at 9.5 sen, bringing the market capitalisation of the group to RM1.44 billion. It saw 30.71 million shares traded.