OMV New Zealand doubled its profits in New Zealand to about $250 million for the past calendar year, getting a big boost from the new Maari oil field off the Taranaki coast.
OMV holds 69 per cent of Maari, which is estimated to hold about 50 to 60 million barrels of oil. Maari is south of the giant Maui gas field.
OMV managing director Wayne Kirk said Maari coming on stream in March last year had helped the financial results.
Total sales were recorded as $656m in the past year, up $300m from the previous calendar year, with the advent of the Maari field.
In the previous year, the $351m income was from Maui and Pohokura fields.
"Yes, we are starting to get some returns from the hundreds of millions we have invested in the development [of Maari]," Mr Kirk said.
Production had been going "reasonably well" he said.
While Mr Kirk would not confirm the final price tag, Maari's total development cost has been estimated at about $1 billion and it has now been producing for more than a year, starting around March last year.
OMV's accounts show it has total assets worth about $1.3b in New Zealand.
OMV's annual results showed gross profits of $537m in the calendar year, up from $215.8m in the previous year.
OMV's depreciation of property, plant and equipment in producing assets for the year was $208m and it made foreign exchange gains of $106m.
The company paid the Government $123.5m in tax, leaving a profit of $250m.
Maari is about 80km off the Taranaki coast and produces from five wells, with forecast production expected to be around 30,000 barrels a day in the second half of 2010, according to 10 per cent joint venture partner Horizon Oil.
So far, the field has produced 8.2 million barrels for all the field partners, according to Horizon.
Mr Kirk said they had drilled the Manaia appraisal well near Maari at the end of last year and they planned to get that in production later this year, "and see how it goes".
In its latest update, Horizon said the Manaia structure had the potential to lift recoverable reserves from 60 million barrels to between 80 and 100 million barrels.
Maari produced about 6.5 million barrels of oil in its first 12 months of production, slightly better than 2009's production from the successful Tui field.
Maari is expected to have a field life of 10 to 15 years.
OMV also holds 26 per cent of the Pohokura gas field.
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