The latest Origin application is for the 23,662 square kilometre licence PEP 38264, which is adjacent to and further offshore PEP 38262, which the company won in August last year. The Pacific Titan survey vessel conducted some 2D seismic work for Origin over PEP 38262 earlier this year.
Origin’s new permit application also touches the northern boundary of some of the 40 Great South Basin blocks that Crown Minerals currently has on offer.
Origin investor relations manager Angus Guthrie acknowledged the PEP 38264 application but said there was not much else he could comment on the matter.
“Yes, it is to the east of 262 and does cover some deep water but I am not in a position to say anything else. As a rule, we don’t tend to say a lot about individual permit programs,” he told PetroleumNews.net today.
Origin also has several offshore Taranaki permits, as well as being operator of the $NZ980 million Kupe gas-condensate project that is also off Taranaki.
Meanwhile, TAG – which in four years has become the single largest petroleum permit holder in New Zealand – has made a Priority in Time (PIT) application over all the acreage that Crown Minerals did not allocate early this year in its last offshore Northland blocks offer.
In that bidding round, the only new permits were PEP 38618 and 38619, both going to operator Origin (50% interest) and Austrian firm OMV (50%).
TAG president Drew Cadenhead said his company had applied for PEP 38621, covering some 38,260 square kilometres.
“Our strategy is to continue to build production through an ongoing and active exploration program in a diverse range of basins and plays,” Cadenhead told PNN today.
“Offshore Northland is a logical extension for TAG and builds on our onshore operations and experience in Taranaki by adding longer term, higher risk but larger opportunities, to our exploration portfolio.
“We would like, and have already started the logistical planning, to shoot 2D marine seismic data over the acreage this summer.
“But we’ll need a permit award decision from Crown Minerals quickly to ensure we can guarantee a slot in an already busy summer offshore seismic schedule,” he said, referring to rumours that the Pacific Titan is coming back to New Zealand waters in a few months to shoot seismic for Origin-OMV, Pogo Producing and others.
TAG currently holds stakes in 23 petroleum exploration and mining permits in New Zealand and is operator of nine of these permits. Cadenhead said that made TAG the single largest permit holder of all operators in New Zealand, with Todd Energy holding only about 16 permits, Austral Pacific Energy 11 and Origin-OMV 10.
