New Zealand opens Taranaki blocks for exploration
Monday, 03 December 2007 09:58 (NZ Time)
New Zealand opens Taranaki blocks for exploration WELLINGTON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - The New Zealand government
said on Monday it has launched a bidding round for petroleum
exploration rights in the oil and gas rich region of Taranaki. Nine blocks totalling 3,273 square kilometres (2,034 square
miles) of the onshore Taranaki basin have been offered for
exploration, Associate Energy Minister Harry Duynhoven said. "The size of the blocks and their underlying prospectivity
has already attracted interest from a variety of local and
overseas exploration companies," Duynhoven said in a statement. The Taranaki region, on the east coast of New Zealand's
North Island, contains all of the country's commercial oil and
gas fields. New Zealand has stepped up the hunt to find new oil and gas
fields to replace for Taranaki's ageing Maui field, which has
supplied 80 percent of the country's needs and is due to run out
around 2010. In July the government awarded permits to two consortiums
who are expected to spend NZ$1.2 billion ($916 million)
searching for oil and gas in little-explored oceans southeast of
the country. The bidding round for the onshore Taranaki basin will close
on May 30.
NZO and JV partners will be happy with this.