The Commission’s chair Paula Rebstock said there had been a material change in circumstances since it granted its authorisation to the Pohokura partners – operator Shell Exploration New Zealand, Todd Petroleum Mining, and Austrian firm OMV - in September 2003.

At that time, it considered this authorisation would avoid a one-year delay in bringing Pohokura gas to market because the owners would not need to negotiate the complex contractual arrangements necessary to sell the gas separately.

The commission authorised the arrangement on the basis that avoiding a one-year delay would bring substantial public benefit, outweighing the anti-competitive nature of joint selling.

But the Pohokura partners were later unable to agree on arrangements to sell gas jointly and each sold their first tranche of Pohokura gas separately without causing any delays in production.

“Separate selling has not resulted in delays, so there is now no public benefit in allowing the parties to enter into an anti-competitive arrangement to jointly sell the gas," Rebstock said.

Shell Exploration NZ spokesperson Jackie Maitland today told EnergyReview.net that the partners had cooperated with the commission through the possible revocation process.

“We, the partners, have moved on to separate selling, with our first priority being first gas ashore later in 2006,” she told ERN.