Out of this amount, $6 million will be allocated to the geotechnical data acquisition program; the balance has been budgeted for energy research.

New Zealand Finance Minister Michael Cullen announced the additional funding as part of yesterday’s 2006 Budget presentation in parliament in Wellington.

Research, Science and Technology Minister Steve Maharey and Associate Energy Minister Harry Duynhoven said the move significantly increased funding to help secure New Zealand’s future energy needs.

But PEPANZ executive officer Mike Patrick was less enthusiastic, describing the extra funding for energy research as “modest” and for petroleum explorers as “a slight boost”.

“But we are grateful, particularly for the extra geotechnical acquisition – that will be an excellent use of the money,” he told EnergyReview.net this morning.

Patrick said the Australian Government had already provided substantial funding for Geoscience Australia over the 2003-07 period, involving several tens of millions of dollars, for similar geological information work.

Duynhoven said his government recognised the importance of a well-functioning energy sector for the continued transformation of New Zealand into an innovative, high-value and export-led economy.

“Our two main aims are to maintain a reliable and robust supply of energy at fair and affordable prices and to limit the impact of the energy sector on our environment, both locally and globally,” he said.

The $6 million is in addition to $15 million already allocated to the geotechnical data acquisition program across prospective petroleum basins, which was designed to encourage more exploration by oil companies, according to Duynhoven.

“This follows the success of the 2004 program which opened up the Northland, Outer Taranaki and East Coast Basins to exploration. This new funding will enable more geotechnical data to be acquired, and will also fund some additional survey work,” he said.

The Norwegian Multiwave Pacific Titan vessel shot an extensive 3D survey off the East Coast last year and this year acquired about 3300km of 2D data in the north-eastern section of the Great South Basin as part of the government’s incentives aimed at stimulating and accelerating petroleum exploration outside the Taranaki Basin.

Maharey said $11.7 million in new funding would be invested over four years in energy research.

In particular, the research would be aimed at assisting New Zealand in:

• more fully understanding its indigenous energy resources and opportunities, particularly regarding renewable energy resources;

• developing new energy technologies and being better placed to adapt and adopt new overseas technologies; and

• understanding and implementing opportunities to use energy more efficiently in homes and businesses.