SPE 147940

Maari Field Development – Case Study

C.R.Mills, A. Marron and W.J. Leeb, OMV New Zealand Ltd.

Copyright 2011, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition held in Jakarta, Indonesia, 20–22 September 2011.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to
reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract
The Maari Field in the offshore Taranaki Basin, New Zealand was discovered in 1983 by the Moki-1 exploration well (figure
1). Appraisal activities and development studies undertaken by various oil companies over the subsequent two decades failed
to identify a viable development concept with an acceptable risk profile. Key factors delaying development were distance
from existing infrastructure, field size in association with oil price and critically the high wax / low pour point nature of the
oil. The Maari Joint Venture identified a strategy to develop the field and produce the previously stranded oil by means of
innovative technology applications.
The self-installing wellhead platform and the FPSO were installed in April and May 2008, respectively but the jack-up rig to
drill the five horizontal production and three deviated water injection wells was delayed by three months due to winter
weather. First Oil from the field was on 25th February 2009, a milestone achieved some 25 years after its discovery.
A number of new technologies and pioneering applications were put into practice with the Maari field development:
• The self installing wellhead platform. At the time Maari WHP was the largest self-installing platform of its kind.
• The production wells have a thermal design with both passive (thermal gel and thermal cement in the annuli) and
active (electric down hole heating system) elements.
• Drilling while casing.
• The electric submersible pump assemblies were designed to handle free gas conditions down hole in the horizontal
section due to the reservoir fluid being close to its bubble point.
• The injection water is heated to reservoir temperature to avoid wax precipitation in the reservoir and injected above
the ‘fracture pressure’.
Two smaller near field satellite oil accumulations were also drilled and completed, including a ~8,000m horizontal ERD
production well targeting a deeper reservoir in separate structure to the south of Maari. Numerous challenges, such as scale,
hydrogen sulphide, corrosion, completion designs and wax, have been encountered and largely overcome during the
production phase.
The paper will detail the innovations, new technologies, major learnings and experiences from the development concepts to
production of this originally ‘stranded’ asset.

Introduction
In November 1983 oil was struck in the Moki-1 well, located some 80 kilometres off the West Coast off the North Island in
New Zealand (Figure 1). At that time the multi-Tcf Maui Gas-Condensate field, which has gone on to supply the majority of
New Zealand’s gas for several decades, had been on production for four years. The overhang in gas supply provided by Maui
effectively stifled gas exploration in offshore Taranaki while offshore exploration success for oil was limited to technical
successes. The Moki-2A appraisal well was drilled two years after the Moki-1 exploration well and confirmed the oil
2 SPE 147940

accumulation. However, given the prevailing oil price and available development technology, it was considered sub-
commercial. As a result, the field was not re-visited until 1998 when a new Joint Venture partnership drilled the vertical
Maari-1 well. Based on encouraging results, Maari-1A was drilled as a horizontal side track within the Moki Formation main
reservoir. This well established the production potential of such a
reservoir intersection strategy to be in excess of 4,000bopd. Nevertheless, the overall conclusion in relation to development
feasibility remained unchanged.
OMV New Zealand took on operatorship of the exploration permit in October 2002 and together with its Joint Venturer
Partners (OMV New Zealand 69%, Todd Maari Limited 16%, Horizon Oil International Limited 10% and Cue Taranaki Pty
Ltd 5%) pushed for further appraisal of the southern part of the field with the aim of acquiring additional subsurface
information critical for a development decision. This appraisal well, Maari-2, was drilled in January 2003. As part of the
evaluation programme, the majority of the reservoir interval was cored and a comprehensive suite of open hole log data
acquired. The following paragraphs will give an insight into the challenges of the Maari field and provides explanation for
the long period between discovery and commercialization.

Geology & Resource

The Taranaki Basin is the only hydrocarbon producing basin in New Zealand, with some 400 million barrels (MMbbl) of
liquid hydrocarbons (mainly condensate) and 5.5 Trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas produced 1970 to 2000 (Crown Minerals,
2010). Historically, the Moki Formation has formed one of several secondary targets after large discoveries were made in
Eocene-aged sandstones of the Kapuni Group (Figure 2).
The Moki Formation is a Mid Miocene aged sand-rich turbidite complex that is interpreted to have been deposited in mid to
lower bathyal water depth. The formation is made up of a succession of very fine to fine grained sandstones and interbedded
mudstones (Grain, 2008). Average porosity within these sands is estimated to be around 22% with a permeability of about
45mD and irreducible water saturation of 35%. The Moki sandstones are bounded above and below by massive bathyal
mudstones of the Manganui Formation. The Maari Field is interpreted to be favourably located close to the depositional axis
of basin floor fan deposition where the combined thickness of turbidite deposits is typically some 200 – 300 meters (Grain,
2008).
At Maari the Moki sandstone deposition is interpreted to have been cyclic with individual cycles probably representing an
amalgam of multiple individual depositional events. Seven primary depositional cycles are correlated in the Maari vicinity.
Cycle motifs are either blocky or fining-upwards while the formation as a whole is seen to coarsen upwards. This is
interpreted to represent the formation becoming more proximal as the shelf-slope system prograded northwards towards the
Maari location.
The Maari and offset Manaia structures are defined by a 514km2 Maari 3D seismic survey which was shot in 1999. Although
data quality in this 3D is generally good, several areas display considerable quality degradation because of near surface gas
effects (Figure 3). This is especially the case over Maari where an overlying gas chimney destroyed deeper reflector
continuity and effectively shrouded the crest of the structure. This gave rise to a large uncertainty in the form of the Maari
structure with realizations ranging from a smooth anticlinal surface to an anticline with an axial collapse graben. This
uncertainty was not resolved until the drilling of the first development well MR3P8. Based on the results of structural
uncertainty analysis, reservoir property modeling and implementation of a water injection scheme, oil-in-place of 135MMbbl
and reserves of 50MMbbls, both on a 50% probability level were estimated prior to development.
The optimum Maari subsurface development was determined to comprise of eight wells, five “horizontal“ production
wellbores and three deviated water injectors (Figure 4). The production wells targeted the upper two Moki sand packages
(Cycles 1 & 2) above a “hard floor“ 20mTVD above the oil-water contact interpreted at 1,327mSS. Well trajectories broadly
conformed to the mapped top Moki surface and were drilled parallel to the minimum horizontal stress direction along an
azimuth of 35 degrees to minimize the risk of water short circulating between the injectors and producers along fractures
expected to be induced through the targeted water injection rates.

Development Concept
Given the technical challenges and the size of the Maari oil accumulation considerable time was spent to work through a
comprehensive development concept screening. A technically feasible solution needed to be found which could be
implemented with a low upfront capital exposure whilst optimizing the long term asset value. Some of these challenges were:

• Generally low offshore E&P activity level in New Zealand compared to other countries
• Remote location some 110 kilometers to the next port.
SPE 147940 3

• Water depth of some 100 meters.

• Harsh offshore environment with seismic activities.
• Shallow, low energy reservoir with little natural water drive.
• Moderate reservoir quality.
• Bubble point close to initial reservoir pressure.
• Waxy crude oil with wax appearance temperature close to the reservoir temperature (48 degC compared to 52 deg
C).

Subsea Option
Subsea wells tied back to a Floating Production, Storage and Offtake (FPSO) vessel were considered to offer a comparatively
low initial investment solution. However, given the lack of field proven, highly reliable artificial lift technology which could
satisfy the flow assurance requirements (hydraulic submersible pumps were at the infancy stage of subsea applications then,
conventional gas lift design could not sustain the oil temperature above the wax appearance temperature in the wells), the
anticipated frequency and very limited predictability of well workovers to replace the electric submersible pump strings (the
artificial lift system chosen) and the unavailability of suitable semi-submersible drilling rigs in a timely and cost acceptable
manner for such workovers, the subsea well/ FPSO concept was discarded.

Dry Wellhead Options

To have relative easy access to the production and water injection wells during the field’s production phase it was considered
that a platform had to be included in the development concept. Given the often harsh met-ocean conditions experienced at the
Maari site, such platform would have to be a significant structure and because of the water depth to be effectively one of the
tallest buildings in the country.
On initial inspection a cost attractive concept appeared to be the lease of a jack-up drilling rig converted into a drilling and
production unit with a Floating Storage and Offtake (FSO) vessel alongside. Two companies were identified of having a
suitable rig available. However, following a FEED study the concept did not meet the investment hurdle rate in the low
reserves case whilst the drilling units had insufficient fatigue life left to cover the longer field life associated with higher
reserves estimates.
A traditionally designed wellhead platform (WHP) was not feasible due to tight cost constraints of the project. However, two
minimum foot-print platforms capable of handling the environmental conditions at the Maari location were identified and
following further concept definition studies two companies were invited to tender. The self installing platform type was given
preference over the traditionally piled platform to mitigate the risk of a prolonged offshore installation process due to the
changeable weather and sea conditions in the Tasman Sea along with the associated costs of the required installation vessels.

Basis of Design
The basis of design for the WHP and FPSO was for five horizontal producer wells, producing at a plateau rate of 35,000 bopd
and 35 MMscfd and a seawater injection rate of 40,000 bwipd into three injector wells. The injectors were designed as
deviated wells intersecting the producers roughly halfway along the horizontal sections of the producers and then inject under
fractured conditions to induce extended fractures running parallel to the horizontal producers. Only the Moki reservoir was
considered for development with the four considerably smaller reservoirs remaining as stranded assets; the Manaia well was
to be drilled as a vertical, appraisal well and abandoned as part of the drilling campaign.

Project Execution
In November 2005, less than 3 years after taking on the Maari challenge, OMV and its Joint Venturer partners took Final
Investment Decision on the field’s development. An exciting phase was lying ahead. Besides the technical issues and
solutions identified the E&P market fueled by the climbing oil prices provided additional hurdles to overcome.

Engineering and Fabrication

Wellhead Platform
The contract for the engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning of the self installing wellhead platform was
awarded to Clough Projects International Pty Ltd in Perth, Western Australia. The Maari platform is an Arup DrillACE
design, the third platform of this type worldwide and is the tallest built to date.
4 SPE 147940

The platform was fabricated in Lumut, Malaysia with first steel cut in August 2006. The first modules to be fabricated were
the massive barge deck and steel skirted gravity base. The size of the base is driven by the dimensions of the platform and the
seabed geology. In case of Maari the base is 44 x 48 meters and is made up of 8 separate compartments. The deck was
designed as a series of closed tanks welded together. The required size was determined to be 50 x 55 meters so that the deck
together with the base would provide sufficient buoyancy during offshore installation to keep the platform afloat. The base
and deck have a moonpool through which the Maari wells would later be drilled. The deck carries the topside facilities,
limited to the minimum requirements to operate the wellhead platform in a not-normally manned mode. In May 2007 the
fabrication of the deck and base had progressed to a stage that the deck could be lifted onto the base. The Asian Hercules II
crane vessel was hired to pick up the 2,300 metric ton deck and placed it onto the base aligning the moonpools with the
required 50 milimetres tolerance (Figure 5).
The truss-styled jacket was constructed from seven separate pre-fabricated sections. Due to the height of the platform and the
weight of the well bay section (the topmost permanent section of the jacket which houses the wellheads) the jacket could not
be built in a conventional way from bottom to top using cranes. A bespoke jacking system was developed to build from top
downwards. The first section, i.e. the topmost, was lifted, the next section was placed underneath for welding together and
then these sections were lifted to repeat the process until the jacket reached its full height.
Upon completion the jacking system for offshore installation was installed. A total of 24 wire rope strands, six on each
corner, with a combined length of 100 kilometres were anchored to the base, connected to the deck via hydraulic jacks and
hung off a temporary jacking frame on top of the well bay section of the jacket. Once the platform reached its destination in
the Maari Field, this system allowed the base to be lowered relative to the deck towards the seabed and after full penetration
of the base into the seabed to jack the deck out of the water and into its final position. Placing the remaining topside facilities
(e.g. temporary accommodation module, heli-deck, etc.) onto the deck completed the platform fabrication and left a minimum
work scope to be carried out offshore compared to traditional wellhead platforms. On load-out from the fabrication yard the
platform was 147 meters tall and weighed some 10,000 metric tonnes.

FPSO
The contract for the conversion of was awarded to Tanker Pacific in Singapore. In line with the project’s contracting strategy
the FPSO was contracted as a leased facility for a firm 4 year term with options to purchase the FPSO at several milestones
during the lease period or to extend the lease beyond the first firm term. Tanker Pacific as the owner of the FPSO is also
providing for the day-to-day operation and maintenance. Whilst Tanker Pacific had previous experience in the conversion
and operation of crude oil tankers into FSOs this was their first FPSO job.
A suitable vessel of Tanker Pacific's fleet was selected and the conversion of the 'Andaman Sea' into the FPSO 'Raroa'
commenced in December 2006 when the vessel arrived in the Singapore shipyard. The process modules comprise of a 3-
stage oil separation train (high pressure and low pressure separator and electrostatic coalescer) with the test separator
designed for the same throughput as the production separator and a water injection skid. The design rates of the facilities are
40,000 bopd production and 40,000 bwpd on the injection side. Due to the waxy nature of the crude oil all the surface
facilities and pipework are heat traced and insulated. The crude oil storage tanks of the FPSO are heated with the oil being
kapt at a temperature of 50 degrees Celsius. In case of production interruptions the subsea flowlines are flushed and the line
content displaced with hot water. To avoid wax precipitation in the reservoir the injection water is heated to reservoir
temperature. To cover the substantial needs for electrical power (wellbore heating system - see well construction, electric
submersible pumps, injection pumps, etc.) and steam (tank heating, injection water heating, etc.) three boilers driving three
turbo alternators generating an output of 7.5MW each were installed onboard the FPSO. These boilers can be fired on gas,
crude oil and / or diesel to make best use of the most economical fuel available. Maari is predicted to become fuel gas
deficient later in the field life and at this stage it is envisaged that crude oil would be the preferential fuel.

Offshore Installation
Subsea facilities
The installation of the subsea facilities was carried out between February and April 2008. In total eight mooring piles, each
84” in diameter and 26 meters long were driven into the seabed using a hydraulic subsea hammer. The mooring legs (chain -
wire - chain combination) were connected to the mooring buoy and left suspended, awaiting the arrival of the FPSO. The
installation methodology of the subsea flow lines – two by 10” production and test line and one by 8” water injection line -
and the electro-hydraulic umbilical had to be changed as a result of the delayed arrival of the wellhead platform in the Maari
Field. The lines were connected to the FPSO mooring buoy, laid over the mid-water arch in a lazy-S configuration towards
the wellhead platform location some 1.5 kilometres towards the southwest and lowered onto the seabed for recovery and pull
in into the platform later.
SPE 147940 5

Wellhead Platform
The original load-out of the wellhead platform was planned for September 2007. In June of that year the Maari Joint Venture
acknowledged that this date could not be achieved. The delays in the platform fabrication caused by the general high level of
worldwide construction and fabrication activities and a number of other reasons required rescheduling of the transportation
arrangements from Malaysia to New Zealand. The previously booked ‘Mighty Servant I’ was swapped against the ‘Blue
Marlin’, the world’s biggest semi submersible heavy transportation vessel. This vessel change out meant that previous
engineering work in relation to the platform transport had to be redone and additional civil work at the fabrication site was
required, e.g. deeper dredging of the shipping channel in the Lumut area and wharf re-enforcements along the load-out quay.
The platform was loaded out onto the Blue Marlin on 19 March 2008 and arrived in New Zealand on 11 April 2008 (Figure
6) following a voyage along the North Australian coast, through the Torres Strait, along the Great Barrier Reef and across the
Tasman Sea.
After a few days of waiting-on-weather the wellhead platform was floated off the transport vessel by the Blue Marlin
submerging herself until the platform was afloat. Two tugs then towed the platform the final 135km to its chosen location in
the Maari Field. On arrival the installation process commenced with the base being lowered using the wire rope jacking
system. As the base approached the seabed the pumping system was set into operation to evacuate the sea water trapped
between the base and the seabed. The base penetrated the seabed under its own weight with further penetration achieved
when the deck was lifted out of the water. Once the platform was installed to design regarding penetration and verticality the
installation aids were removed. A construction support vessel then retrieved the flow lines from the seabed and together with
a winching mechanism on the wellhead platform pulled the lines into the platform's I-tubes for hanging off and connecting to
the platform pipework. At this stage the platform was ready to receive the jack-up rig to commence the development drilling.

FPSO
The FPSO Raroa sailed away under her own steam from Singapore in early April 2008 following a similar route as the
wellhead platform to New Zealand. On 25 April the Raroa arrived in Wellington, New Zealand's capital city to complete
some work scopes not finished in the shipyard (Figure 7). Once in the Maari field she hooked up to the pre-installed mooring
buoy by pulling the buoy into the vessel's turret in a matter of several hours only. As for the wellhead platform, given the
changeable and generally rough sea conditions in the Tasman Sea a mooring system with a fast hook-up process was
essential to the success of the offshore installation work. Following the connection of the two offshore facilities (FPSO and
wellhead platform) via the umbilical and the subsea flow lines the integration testing and commissioning could commence.
The only project deliverables missing were the wells to supply oil for final performance testing and to commence a hopefully
long lasting production period.

Well Construction
The Ensco 107 (E107) jack-up drilling rig was contracted in mid 2006 to drill the Maari development wells. The E107 is a
new generation 400 foot jack-up rig and departed the Singapore shipyard on her maiden voyage in 2006 for drilling in SE
Asia before going to New Zealand. Prior to commencing work at Maari the E107 drilled a number of development wells in
offshore South Taranaki. This had the benefit to the Maari programme that the rig would be fully shaken down and staffed
with experienced local personnel.
Due to her later than planned arrival in New Zealand and the longer than anticipated pre-Maari drilling scope, handover of
the E107 to OMV was delayed to August 2008. This is in the middle of the Southern Hemisphere winter and the rig could not
be moved to the Maari location for some three months due to unsuitable weather and the tight met-ocean requirements for
jacking up next to the platform. On 11 November 2008 the E107 was finally jacked-up next to the Maari wellhead platform
to commence her eight well drilling campaign (Figure 8).
The drilling scope was executed as a combination of batch operation and sequential drilling balancing the competing drivers
for early First Oil from the field, further reducing subsurface uncertainties and maximizing drilling efficiencies. The wellhead
platform provides for 12 well slots, eight for the Maari Field development and four spares for future use. However, to allow
for eventualities ten 30” stove pipes were driven by a hammer system installed on the rig floor to a minimum of 30 meters
into the seabed to protect the soil plug underneath the wellhead platform base from wash outs likely to be caused by
conventional rotary drilling. Such washouts would have compromised the long term stability of the platform. The next phase
was to place the conductors to a minimum depth of 105 meters below the seabed. The project team selected the drilling-with-
casing technique using a 27” drillable bit and 24” casing, the world's largest size application to date. Thorough planning and
execution allowed drilling and cementing of nine strings in less time than budgeted for eight. Following drilling of the 20”
surface sections, and installation of 16" surface casing of the first three production wells, a sequential drilling mode was
applied to minimize the duration to First Oil.
The casing scheme of the Maari wells is rather unconventional with the design being driven by thermal insulation
requirements. Maari crude like all Taranaki Basin oils contains a high percentage of wax and as a result has a high pour point
6 SPE 147940

(~20°C) and wax appearance temperature (~48°C compared to a formation temperature of 52°C). As a result, the Maari flow
assurance strategy was to design the entire produced fluid flow path from sand face to stock tank to stay outside the wax
appearance conditions. To achieve this, larger than traditional sized hole sections were drilled (e.g. 141/2“ intermediate hole
with 103/4“ casing) with the additional annular thickness providing the production wells with more effective thermal
insulation especially when coupled with low thermal conductivity centralisers, insulating cements and world first thermal
gels.
Because of well path TVD uncertainty (sag & slide-rotate effects estimated to be +/- 3m) and geological uncertainty
(mapping / velocity model uncertainty estimated to be +/- 4m) a robust system was required to ensure optimal landing of the
wells at top Moki reservoir. There are several ways to achieve this, for Maari a ‘soft landing’ technique was chosen.
According to this method wells were drilled geometrically to incorporate a tangent for placing the ESP assembly followed by
a landing tangent with the TVD height of this section being sufficient to accommodate the TVD uncertainty of the proposed
landing location. Landing tangents at Maari were typically 85 to 87 degree. This strategy allowed for angle to be built rapidly
to 90 degrees prior to running intermediate casing.
The intermediate and reservoir sections of the Maari wells were drilled utilizing 141/2“ and 91/2“ Point-the-Bit Geopilot
directional drilling tools. Dog leg severity had to be kept low over the length of the reservoir section to ensure the wire
wrapped sand screens could be run to the end of the 1,200 ~ 2,500m long horizontal production intervals.
Pre-development log interpretation indicated a strong cross-plot relationship between Gamma Ray (GR) and porosity.
Because of the quality of this relationship, the decision was made not to run porosity tools and to rely on a regressed GR
function to derive porosity in the development wells. The LWD suite therefore consisted of At-Bit Azimuthal GR (used for
geo-steering guidance), Induction Resistivity and a second circumferential GR (used for porosity calculation) only.
MWD/LWD reliability was excellent over the course of the project with over 300 hours on one tool before failure. Drill bit
performance was also excellent with 4,911m of 91/2 “ hole drilled by a single bit in well MR3P8 and as a re-run in well
MR4P9.
The upper completions run at Maari are unconventional and incorporate both down-hole heating and artificial lift elements
(Figure 9). As discussed above it was critical that the completion design mitigated against downhole wax deposition. To
facilitate this, the wells were designed to be thermally insulated and the completions to incorporate a downhole heating
system to offset the combined effect of residual heat loss to the formation plus significant Joule-Thomson cooling. The
electric downhole heating system was designed to provide 150W/m length of heating element into the fluids flowing inside
the 6-5/8” production tubing (around 0.3 MW of heating per well). The use of such a heat string necessitated a custom built
wellhead system to allow deployment of the downhole heating system inside the production tubing whilst facilitating well
maintenance using a work-over rig.
In order to achieve economic production rates from the moderate permeability reservoir, artificial lift using Electric
Submersible Pumps (ESP) was utilised. This method of artificial lift is not commonly implemented where high Gas-Oil
ratios are expected as is the case at Maari. Therefore the ESP system was designed to operate in multiphase flow with
significant gas-liquid ratios. To accomplish this the ESP system incorporated proproetry gas handling technology including
rotary gas separators and bottom-feeders. The instrumentation package associated with the ESP system provides real-time
monitoring of bottom hole parameters including pressure & temperature whilst in both flowing & shut-in conditions.
Because of the high expected bottom hole pressure drawdowns, the possibility of sand production could not be excluded.
Since the surface facilities would be sensitive to any significant volumes of produced sand, wire wrapped sand screens were
deployed over the 1-2 km long production bores drilled through the reservoir.
In summary, the initial well completions of the producers consisted of four sections:
• Lower completion consisting of 13 Cr 6-5/8” and 5-1/2” alternating blanks and wire-wrapped screens;
• Middle completion consisting of an anchor latch, formation isolation valve and polished bore receptacle (PBR);
• Upper completion consisting of three chemical injection valves, deep-set TRSSSV, perforated joint, downhole
Phoenix gauge, Pump intake, Gas separator, Gas handler, ESP 6-5/8” tubing with a 1-1/4” Coiled Tubing inserted
into the length of the completion to function as a downhole heater;
• Wellhead consisting of a specially modified ‘horizontal’ tree with oil production out of the production wing valves
(Master and Flow) and the gas out of the annulus wing valves (Master and Flow).
The gas separation is assisted further by having the ESP in a near horizontal section (~80 – 85 degrees) and a ‘bottom feeder’
intake for the ESP intake so that gravity is fully utilised in the separation of free gas downhole. The production stream flows
into the lower completion, through the middle completion and the TRSSV before flowing into the annulus. In the annulus,
the majority of the gas flows past the ESP and up the annulus to surface; the liquids and some free gas are drawn into the
ESP intake where the excess gas is separated and expelled back into the annulus by the rotary gas separator and the
SPE 147940 7

remaining fluids flow through the gas handler (essentially a mixer) and the pump and up the tubing to surface. Both the
annulus and the production lines have chokes at surface to optimise the production.
The downhole heater installed was existing technology but used in an entirely novel way. The downhole heater consisted of a
1-1/4” Coiled tubing down the entire length of the tubing and sealed at the end. The CT is filled with di-electric oil and an
insulated electrical cable runs down the inside of the Coiled Tubing and is attached to the end of the CT where it is sealed to
make an electrical circuit. Electrical pulses, one rectified phase of a three phase AC current, is sent down the insulated
electrical cable and returns up the surface of the inside wall of the CT due the ‘skin effect’ and as a result generates heat. The
outer wall of the CT has no current as the pulses of the rectified single alternating phase only flow up the inside wall so no
current is earthed via the well completion components. The heat string adds some 10-15 degC to the well stream; additional
heat is supplied by the fluids flowing past the electric motor of the ESP, adding another 2-3 degC to the temperature of the
well stream.
There are three chemical injection lines for pour point depressants, combined chemical and scale inhibitors and de-
emulsifiers. Two lines supply a dual chemical injection nipple into the production stream below the TRSSSV and the other
line is for annular injection. The main reason for injection is to prevent scale and corrosion. Pour point depressants and de-
emulsifiers are only a precaution and generally have not been required.
The three water injectors were completed as openhole completions with the production casing below the intra-Moki shale
(Figures 10 & 11). The tubing was plastic-coated with a permanent packer set at the cap rock and the tailpipe at the bottom
of the production casing to prevent corrosion over the lifecycle of the injector wells. The design was such that the well would
be “interventionless”.

Production Phase
The construction and installation phase of the project was successful in terms of HSE performance, costs and time within
budget. The first production well was completed on 22 January 2009 and delivered First Oil on 25 February 2009. For the
next five months a Simultaneous Operations scheme of drilling and producing was followed. The last of the eight
development wells was set on production on 5 August 2009. Completed on 26 July 2009, the overall Maari drilling campaign
lasted 253 days, 26 days less than budgeted at project sanction.
However, despite all the planning, a number of issues were encountered during production that also needed to be resolved.
The issues and the mitigation strategies adopted are outlined below.

ESP Uptime
Frequent shut-ins were required as a safety pre-caution while heavy lifts occured across wellheads and flowlines during the
simultaneous production and drilling phase of operations. Although reduced to a minimum, this required the ESPs to be
stopped and started frequently (almost once every two days) and is thought to have ultimately resulted in three wells needing
to be worked over with the drilling rig during the drilling campaign. The delays in installing the Work-Over Unit (WOU) on
the WHP once the jack-up drilling rig departed the field further reduced the uptime of the ESPs: a further three wells failed
predominantly due to both electrical and mechanical failure modes and remained shut-in until the WOU was installed and
commissioned.
Teardowns of the ESP were instrumental in identifying the failure modes. Analysis of this data resulted in a progressive
optimisation of completion designs to improve the uptime of the ESP. The pre-FID design assumptions for the ESPs have
subsequently been adjusted to reflect data from the actual production profiles and current forecasts, especially the higher than
anticipated gas production, to ensure that the appropriate designs are used over the remaining life of the field. This ongoing
adaptive design approach has resulted in most of the failure mechanisms being addressed either through design, procedural
or operational changes. The outcome of this is that ESP run time has improved from a low of some 30 days to over 600 days
and counting to date. Scale, both calcium carbonate and barium/strontium sulphate, has been found in the wells and is also
found to be a failure mode for the ESP’s. Mitigation of this failure mode is ongoing.

Scale
The onset of both calcium carbonate and barium/strontium sulphate has proved a challenge, especially with the use of the
downhole heater in the tubing. The injection of a combined scale/corrosion inhibitor has largely reduced the deposits but has
not totally removed the problem as calcium carbonate scale forms below the injection point, which is already set as deep as
possible, as well as around the ESP’s.
Calcium Carbonate forms at the onset of the injected seawater breakthrough and barium/strontium sulphate forms as the
seawater breakthrough increases. Use of acid wash has had some success but monitoring and analysis of pump vibration data
needs to be stepped up so that the number of acid washes can be reduced but still be performed prior to ESP failure.
8 SPE 147940

As part of this process, coreflood tests were undertaken to design an acid recipe for the routine removal of both calcium
carbonate and barium/strontium sulphate scales in the horizontal wellbore and formation as well as for routine scale
squeezes. A re-design of the completion string to incorporate a Y-Tool is also planned to enable acid washes / squeezes as
well as facilitate access for logging tools. Further plans to mitigate against scale include installing a de-sulphanation unit on
the FPSO to remove sulphates and some carbonates from the injected water and the use of electric fields to prevent scale
formation downhole. These mitigation measures are yet to be implemented but combined are expected to largely remove the
impacts of scale on production.

Increased levels of H2S and CO2

The onset of injected seawater breakthrough has coincided with increased levels of produced H2S (~190 ppm) and CO2. The
injected seawater is treated with calcium nitrate to prevent reservoir souring by promoting nitrate reducing bacteria (NRB) to
prevent sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) from producing H2S. Recent studies suggest that the effectiveness of using calcium
nitrates to prevent reservoir souring is limited in low temperature environments. Further studies are required as to the future
of the calcium nitrate treatment but H2S scavengers are being sourced as a viable, alternative solution.

Water injection Performance

The water injection performance of the field has not been as initially predicted. The initial injection of heated (65 degC),
treated (mainly calcium nitrate, oxygen reduction and scale inhibitor) seawater delivered some 25,000 bwipd and a voidage
replacement ratio of 55% compared to a desired rate of 35,000 bwipd. Additional post development geo-mechanical studies
and injector well test analyses have demonstrated that the length of the induced fractures are shorter than predicted pre-FID
and that this along with secondary wax and/or scale deposits in the formation are the primary potential root causes. Various
initiatives are being implemented to increase injection rates to some 37,000 bwipd. Such work includes adding perforations
above the Intra-Moki shale (Figure 11) and dropping the injection temperature to ambient to increase the fracture sizes. In
addition to this, additional work is ongoing to design well stimulations and quantify the EOR benefits that de-sulphanation of
injection water may bring in improved sweep efficiency. Further options include drilling additional or replacement water
injectors as part of a phase II development.

Project Achievements
Success at Maari required the combined skills of a tightly knit multi disciplinary team of OMV staff and third party
contractors as well as the successful implementation of a number of new technologies and pioneering applications. Pivotal
technology applications that facilitated the Maari Development include:
• Early development of a comprehensive set of dedicated project control procedures.
• Use of a self installing wellhead platform. This was only the third installation of its kind and is the tallest built to
date.
• Drilling and completing the production wells with a combination of enhanced thermal insulation (thermal gel and
thermal cement in the annuli) and active heating elements (electric down hole heating system) to mitigate against
solidification of the high wax / low pour point oils
• Design and installation of electric submersible pump assemblies capable of handling free gas.
• Use of a “landing tangent” methodology to control geological uncertainty and to position the horizontal wells at the
correct position in the Moki Sandstone reservoir.
• Regular “after action” and “lessons learned” reviews with the results rapidly applied to improve ongoing operations.
• Successful implementation of simultaneous operations (Simops) with early production occurring in conjunction with
drilling operations.
• Voidage replacement and reservoir pressure maintenance using heated water to avoid wax precipitation coupled
with injection pressure at above fracture conditions.
• Accelerated oil production.
• Enabling the development of the nearby stranded assets as a phase II development opportunity to maximise the
assets value.
SPE 147940 9

Follow on Work to Core Development

Encouraged by the appraisal information acquired during Moki Sandstone development drilling the Maari Joint Venture
decided to drill a further production well into a thin, four to eight metre thick oil saturated sandstone some 50 meters above
the main Moki reservoir. The well geometry and completion type is identical to the Maari production wells. The additional
well was tied into the production facilities and flows co-mingled with the Moki wells. A pilot waterflood for the M2A is also
underway to enhance oil production from this reservoir.
Manaia, an oil accumulation discovered in 1970 is located about six kilometres to the Southwest of the Maari Field. Prior to
commencing the Maari drilling the plan was to appraise this structure by a simple, vertical throw-away well and depending
on the appraisal information a development plan may have been worked out. On the basis of the successful directional
drilling of the Maari wells the Manaia well was redesigned as an Extended Reach well to be drilled from the Maari wellhead
platform. Whilst some time was lost drilling the intermediate section due to unexpected mud losses - some 2,000 barrels of
synthetic based mud was lost into a facture zone not identifiable on seismic - the well was successfully landed at top reservoir
within 1 meter of the target.
The Manaia-1 well was drilled to a total depth of 7943 meters, the longest well ever drilled in New Zealand. Based on the
encouraging log information available the lower completion (sand screens) were installed and the well was suspended until
the upper completion was run with the installed WOU. This well is now tied into the Maari facilities and flows co-mingled
with the Maari Moki wells. There are further plans to develop the Manaia field, including the addition of more producers and
water injectors.
Other opportunities are recognised that will add value to and extend the productive life of the installed Maari facilities. This
includes developing nearby stranded assets; additional development of the Moki reservoir, Gas Utilisation (gas re-injection)
and re-drilling of the injection wells as subsea injectors. These development projects form the basis of the planned Phase II
development.

Conclusions
The development of the Maari Field was always going to be a challenging prospect. The majority of these challenges were
identified and mitigated against pre-FID, however some only became apparent as the project proceeded. These problems have
largely been overcome through innovation and application of multiple existing and relatively new technologies.
The Maari development has been an economic success, despite all the operational issues experienced to date. The
development approach has proven to be an enabler to adding further value. There are several development opportunities that
can now utilise the existing facilities, thus enhancing the economics of the Maari Development.
The major learnings and experiences are:
• Stranded assets can be developed economically using new technologies.
• The decision to produce and drill simultaneously resulted in poor uptime but is more than offset by accelerated oil
production.
• Calcium Nitrate to control SRBs and reservoir souring in a low temperature environment has so far not been
successful.
• Injection under fractured conditions as a ‘pseudo’ line-drive has had limited success for the Maari field to date.
• The Downhole heating system used in Maari is a viable technology for use downhole and has made the ‘thermal
well’ a success.
• Dropping the water injection temperature below the wax appearance temperature after some time has increased
injection by increasing fracture size.
• There are now yet more development opportunities as phase II that were previously never envisaged.
• Scale can be managed in an ESP through both prevention and removal techniques but need to be fine-tuned over the
lifecycle of the field.
• ESP uptimes have improved by implementing the learnings from teardowns and operational reviews and to update
the designs and operational procedures.
10 SPE 147940

References

Crown Minerals 2010. New Zealand Petroleum Basins.

(http://www.nzpam.govt.nz/cms/petroleum/publications/#nz-petroleum-basins)

Grain, S.L. 2008. Paleogeography of a mid Miocene Turbidite Complex, Moki Formation, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand.
Unpublished M.Sc. Thesis, School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences Victoria University of Wellington.
SPE 147940 11

Figures

Figure 1: Location map, Maari Field, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand

12 SPE 147940

Figure 2: Taranaki Basin Stratigraphy and producing fields (after Crown Minerals, 2010) with the position Maari annotated.
SPE 147940 13

Figure 3: Maari 3D In-line 1270 along the axis of the Maari structure highlighting the gas chimney that shrouds the crestal
part of the structure.
14 SPE 147940

Figure 4: Maari structure depth map (contour interval = 10m) with the as drilled positions of deviated water injectors (blue)
and horizontal oil producers (green) marked. OWC is at 1327mSS.
SPE 147940 15

Figure 5: Lift of the Well Head Platform deck onto the base using the Asian Hercules II crane vessel.

Figure 6: Maari Well Head Platform arrival in New Zealand.

16 SPE 147940

Figure 7: Maari FPSO “Raroa” arriving in Wellington, New Zealand.

Figure 8: Maari WHP & jack-up drilling rig.

SPE 147940 17

Figure 9: Maari oil producer completion schematic.

Figure 10: Maari injector well completion schematic.

18 SPE 147940

Figure 11: Schematic cross-section through Maari highlighting the position of water injector and production wells along with
the location of additional water injector perorations above the Intra Moki Shale.