Click photo to enlarge
Areas subject to seismic survey for oil and gas this
summer. Source: Ministry for Economic Development.
The oil-producing potential of the southern ocean will
become clearer this summer with the work of seismic survey
vessel MV Bergen Resolution.
The ship will survey 3000-4000km of the northeast Great South
Basin and the Bounty Trough, southeast of the South Island,
along with the Pegasus Basin, Challenger Plateau, Bellona
Trough, outer Taranaki Basin and the Northland East Slope
Basin.
Crown Minerals petroleum group manager Mark Aliprantis said
the southern ocean survey was outside the area of permits
held by OMV NZ Ltd and ExxonMobil.
Depending on the results, the area would be split into
blocks.
These would be put up for tender, possibly in 2011, to the
oil industry, for further investigation and possible
exploration.
OMV and ExxonMobil have permits for six of the 40 blocks, and
are continuing to assess their potential.
The final decision on whether to extend that to drilling is
still to be made.
Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee said in a
statement oil was New Zealand's third largest export earner
in 2008, and gathering fresh data could potentially discover
new areas of oil and gas.
Mr Brownlee said the seismic data survey work was estimated
to cost between $10 million and $12 million, and funding was
provided in the last Budget.
The Government was funding the work the previous government
stopped, because National considered the resource sector to
have "significant potential" to boost the economy.
