new zealand offers new blocks!

NZ offers oil, gas exploration blocks

Thursday September 1, 2005, 3:51 pm



New Zealand will tender four offshore petroleum exploration blocks off the east coast of the North Island, the government said.

The government is also offering free recent seismic data to attract bidders to the under-explored region and said it expected strong interest.

"While there is no certainty yet as to who may bid, I am very hopeful that we will have a level of exploration next year which has never been seen before in New Zealand," Associate Energy Minister Harry Duynhoven said in a statement.

The seismic data from a survey of the region revealed "highly encouraging" features and was attracting exploration companies who had not previously considered New Zealand, he said.

The East Coast Basin blocks range in size from 20,200 sq km to 5,340 sq km.

The tender closes in February next year.

Fifty-five wells have previously been drilled in the basin but many were shallow and old and the region's hydrocarbon potential is considered largely untested.

Significant onshore shows of natural gas were found in the late 1990s near the blocks being offered, although their commercial viability was never tested.

New Zealand is trying to boost exploration outside the Taranaki Basin, where all the country's commercial fields are located, to replace the dwindling Maui field, which is expected to reach the end of its useful life in the next five years.

"New Zealand needs smaller-scale, onshore discoveries to buy us time, but if domestic gas is to be an integral part of our medium-term energy security then it is critical that we look for the larger scale prospects in the frontier petroleum basins," Duynhoven said.

Two other tenders for oil and gas exploration licences are already underway.

Five blocks at the top of the North Island and three blocks in the outer-Taranaki basin are on offer with bids closing in December this year.

China's Sinopec Corp, Asia's top refiner, has indicated interest in both areas.

Further details are available on the Crown Minerals web site: www.crownminerals.govt.nz.
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