MarketNeutral
11th April 2010, 10:46 AM
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10637780&ref=rss
More than 130km offshore from New Plymouth the latest front in the quest for oil is being opened up.
In some of the deepest water drilled off Taranaki, a joint venture of Australian, Austrian and New Zealand companies hope for results from the Hoki wildcat well within a fortnight.
Statistically, it is more likely to be a $50 million calculated gamble that won't come off, but if it does it could be a 250 million barrel bonanza.
From there drilling starts near the already bountiful Tui field and then up to the Northland Basin where Australian-listed Origin Energy has said it will start drilling in frontier territory around the middle of the year.
In the south, massive United States oil explorer Anadarko Petroleum - a newcomer to New Zealand - and Origin will decide by August whether to spend $100m or more looking for oil and gas 65km off the coast of Dunedin.
Anadarko has extensive deep water drilling experience and it may help send a deep-water oil rig to the area.
By October ExxonMobil and Todd Energy must make a call on whether to drill in what could be a world scale field, the Great South Basin.
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Petroleum Exploration and Production Association chief executive John Pfahlert said success has bred interest in the country, along with oil prices that have rebounded and the welcome mat put out by the Government.
"It's a fairly busy period at the moment. It's probably due to the fact we've got three new fields [Tui, Kupe and Maari] producing. There's a financial driver there for the companies to keep looking and get something new to look for to put their plants."
Co-operation was growing among explorers.
'There's drilling rigs here - if you've got to mobilise something yourself that's quite difficult for one company to do."
The removal of the ban on building new baseload gas-fired power stations had also acted as an incentive.
The Government was consulting the industry over a new regime which could do more to encourage explorers by setting up special low tax rates and greater provision for write-offs for exploration.
Explorers made decisions on the likelihood of finding oil or gas which was reasonable in New Zealand, how big it would be (not massive compared to "elephant" fields overseas) and the ability to write off costs, Pfahlert said.
The royalty regime in New Zealand requires companies to pay the Government 5 per cent of the value of the oil or 20 per cent of accounting profits, whichever is higher.
More than 130km offshore from New Plymouth the latest front in the quest for oil is being opened up.
In some of the deepest water drilled off Taranaki, a joint venture of Australian, Austrian and New Zealand companies hope for results from the Hoki wildcat well within a fortnight.
Statistically, it is more likely to be a $50 million calculated gamble that won't come off, but if it does it could be a 250 million barrel bonanza.
From there drilling starts near the already bountiful Tui field and then up to the Northland Basin where Australian-listed Origin Energy has said it will start drilling in frontier territory around the middle of the year.
In the south, massive United States oil explorer Anadarko Petroleum - a newcomer to New Zealand - and Origin will decide by August whether to spend $100m or more looking for oil and gas 65km off the coast of Dunedin.
Anadarko has extensive deep water drilling experience and it may help send a deep-water oil rig to the area.
By October ExxonMobil and Todd Energy must make a call on whether to drill in what could be a world scale field, the Great South Basin.
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IXXXXXX
CCID: 27452
Petroleum Exploration and Production Association chief executive John Pfahlert said success has bred interest in the country, along with oil prices that have rebounded and the welcome mat put out by the Government.
"It's a fairly busy period at the moment. It's probably due to the fact we've got three new fields [Tui, Kupe and Maari] producing. There's a financial driver there for the companies to keep looking and get something new to look for to put their plants."
Co-operation was growing among explorers.
'There's drilling rigs here - if you've got to mobilise something yourself that's quite difficult for one company to do."
The removal of the ban on building new baseload gas-fired power stations had also acted as an incentive.
The Government was consulting the industry over a new regime which could do more to encourage explorers by setting up special low tax rates and greater provision for write-offs for exploration.
Explorers made decisions on the likelihood of finding oil or gas which was reasonable in New Zealand, how big it would be (not massive compared to "elephant" fields overseas) and the ability to write off costs, Pfahlert said.
The royalty regime in New Zealand requires companies to pay the Government 5 per cent of the value of the oil or 20 per cent of accounting profits, whichever is higher.