Earlier this month Swain said he was very pleased so many companies had bid for the 21 new Taranaki permits. "This shows the keen interest there is in New Zealand as a place to explore for oil and gas,' he added.

The 21 new permits went to 19 different explorers, four of which were local companies. Of the remaining companies, seven were from the United States, six from Australia and three from Europe.

Now Crown Minerals says Swain has approved of holding another bidding round for the Taranaki Basin - New Zealand's only commercial energy region.

The next round will include blocks which have become available since the latest onshore and near-shore Taranaki Basin blocks offer and a large part of the next bidding round is expected to be offshore north Taranaki, as well as onshore acreage.

A Crown Minerals spokesman said the Minister hadn't formally approved a further bidding round, nor set any likely dates for opening or closing bidding. "He has simply set aside the onshore area and some further offshore areas from AFO (Acceptable Frontier Offers) applications."

However, in many of the past 10 years there has usually been an acreage release offer of some sorts covering the Taranaki Basin, New Zealand's most explored area.

It is still hoped Crown Minerals will open the deepwater Taranaki blocks in October. Companies will have almost a year in which to assess particular blocks' prospectivity and other exploration factors before submitting bids, probably in September, 2003.