Norwegian companies Multiwave Geophysical Company, using the Pacific Titan, and Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS), perhaps using the Veritas Viking II, could spend up to six months in New Zealand waters shooting surveys for several joint ventures.

Work programs for several New Zealand permits include commitments to acquire more seismic over the next few months. And, given the worldwide high demand for rigs and seismic vessels, other joint ventures are taking advantage of the vessels being in New Zealand waters to commit to further seismic ahead of work program deadlines.

The list of firms involved in contracting one or two of the Norwegian companies reads like a “Who’s Who” of the New Zealand energy industry. It includes OMV, Shell New Zealand, Todd Energy, Origin Energy, Austral Pacific Energy, Australian Worldwide Exploration, Tap Oil, TAG Oil and Mitsui E&P, as well as other layers such as Texan firms Swift Energy, Transworld Oil (through New Zealand Overseas Petroleum or its subsidiaries) and Discovery Geo.

Crown Minerals – the New Zealand government’s unit responsible for petroleum, minerals and coal – is also understood to have again contracted Multiwave and the Pacific Titan as a follow-up to the approximately 3000km 2D survey done over the south-easern North Island earlier this year, from the Wairarapa coast near Wellington up to the eastern Bay of Plenty.

Crown Minerals group general manager Adam Feeley told EnergyReview.net then that if the east coast data acquisition and industry response was good enough, another survey elsewhere around the country could be done within the year. He said he hoped such a government survey could become a permanent feature of the New Zealand exploration scene.

The Pacific Titan is due in New Zealand waters around mid-December and the PGS vessel is expected about the same time.

Taranaki operators believed to be participating in these seismic surveys and the permits involved include: Swift Energy New Zealand, PEP 38495 (3D); downstream company Contact Energy, PEP 38493 (2D); Transworld Oil, PEP 38491 (3D); AWE, PEP 38483 (3D); Shell NZ PEP 38482 (3D); Discovery Geo, PEP 38471 (2D).

East Coast operators believed to be participating in these seismic surveys and the permits involved include: Discovery Geo, PEPs 38341, 342 and 343 (2D).

South Island operators believed to be participating in these seismic surveys and the permits involved include: Green Gate, PEP 38260 (2D); Austral Pacific Energy, PEP 38258 (3D); and L & M Petroleum, PEP 38228 (2D).