Crown Minerals’ latest petroleum update outlines over a dozen areas under application from the Great South Basin and onshore Southland, to onshore Taranaki and offshore north of the Pohokura gas-condensate field. The Crown Minerals six-permit offshore Northland Basin blocks offer that closes in December is also highlighted.

It is not known if this rash of permit applications occurred before last month’s announcement of reduced royalty rates or afterwards.

However, if most of the applications for new permits, including the increasingly popular coal bed methane - have been made in the past few weeks. Associate Energy Minister Harry Duynhoven will be thrilled with the initial responses to the new petroleum regime.

Onshore Taranaki applications are adjacent to the commercial Ngatoro and Kaimiro fields, both owned by Greymouth Petroleum, while offshore applicants have applied for acreage north of Pohokura or near to the southern Kupe field.

The areas surrounding Tap Oil’s Tawatawa-1 licence, offshore Wairarapa, and near Austral-Pacific Energy’s Canterbury blocks have also attracted interest