Associate Energy Minister Harry Duynhoven said in Invercargill yesterday that Crown Minerals was still in discussion with Auckland-headquartered Greymouth regarding the four blocks it bid for earlier this year.
Although Duynhoven did not indicate which blocks Greymouth is after, industry sources say they include some of those closest to shore, in which a jack-up rig could drill rather than relying on a more expensive semi-submersible.
Duynhoven yesterday said Crown Minerals had awarded ExxonMobil and New Zealand’s largest private energy company, Todd Energy, one GSB licence, PEP 50117; while a joint venture led by OMV picked up three new licences, PEPs 50119, 50120 and 50121.
ExxonMobil and Todd’s permit is the southernmost of the new licences awarded and covers two of the 40 blocks previously offered by the Government. ExxonMobil operates the permit with a 90% interest, while Todd holds 10%.
The permit includes acreage previously held by Australian junior Bounty Oil & Gas and over which about 2000 kilometres of 2D seismic was shot in 2004. ExxonMobil subsequently bought the seismic from Fugro-Geoteam.
ExxonMobil head of Asia-Pacific projects David Maughan yesterday reportedly said he believed that data suggested the region was more gas-prone than oil-prone.
However, if big enough volumes of gas were discovered, ExxonMobil planned to pipe it to shore to a new gas-to-liquids or liquid natural gas plant for export.
Such gas volumes would need to be very large – several times the size of the offshore Taranaki Maui field that used to contain in excess of 3 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Maughan said a significant liquids strike would be “wonderful” as liquids could be piped, processed and offloaded offshore and then exported to world markets.
OMV New Zealand managing director Steve Hounsell reportedly said there was a good chance of striking either oil or gas as four of the eight wells previously drilled had positive results, though none was deemed commercial at the time of drilling during the 1970s and 1980s.
Several of those previously drilled wells were within the new permits.
OMV operates its three permits with a 36% interest, while Japan’s Mitsui holds another 36% stake and Thailand’s PTTEP Offshore Investment Company 28%.
Both joint ventures plan to reprocess existing seismic and shoot new seismic within the first three years, followed by well commitments in the latter stages of the five-year permits.
Duynhoven said since GSB bids opened last August on the 40 blocks covering 360,000 square kilometres, five tenderers had expressed interest, including three of the majors.
