10/02/2012
25 Blocks in NZ Acreage Release
The New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals branch of the Ministry of Economic Development announced the proposed blocks covered a total of 40,285sq.km offshore – in the east coast, Pegasus, Canterbury, Great South and Taranaki Basins – and 5704sq.km of onshore acreage in the west coast, taking in Waikato, Tasman, Taranaki and Southland.
NZP&M said the proposed blocks represented a wide range of resource types and sizes to encourage domestic and international companies with different technical expertise and interests to apply for the different types of leases, which it expected to award by the end of this year.
Explorers in the offshore blocks, plus onshore Taranaki, will be targeting primarily conventional oil and gas, while coal seam gas will be the main target in the Waikato, west coast Tasman, and Southland.
The Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand welcomed the new details of the proposed blocks offer, with chief executive David Robinson saying it signalled the government’s on-going intention to further develop oil and gas reserves around the country.
“This blocks offer has been long awaited by the industry and it is very encouraging to see the government delivering on their promises."
Robinson was confident the latest offer would attract domestic and overseas interest, including companies with deepwater expertise and he encouraged the government to assess tenders “in a timely manner and seek opportunities to streamline their processes."
“The annualised approach to blocks offers will attract investment from organisations attracted by New Zealand’s stable environment,” he added.
The government has done away with all Priority In Time (PIT) applications, concentrating now on annual blocks offers only.
Story courtesy of Petroleum News.net