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Global oil giant OMV says it could expand its activities off the Otago coast, as a drilling rig and a fleet of support vessels move into southern waters.
It was confirmed yesterday OMV’s giant drilling rig, COSL Prospector, had rounded Stewart Island on its way to the Great South Basin.
The rig has sailed down the West Coast from Taranaki in recent days and was yesterday southeast of Stewart Island, heading northeast towards the Tawhaki-1 drill site, located 146km off the coast of Balclutha.
There, waiting to meet it, a fleet of five support vessels has assembled, including Skandi Atlantic and Pacific Runner.
And, as OMV’s preparations for drilling ramp up, helicopters have been ferrying crew and supplies from Dunedin out to the vessels at sea.
The activity comes weeks after OMV was granted consent by the Environmental Protection Agency to drill up to 10 exploratory and appraisal wells in the Great South Basin.
The company has previously said it was planning just one test well, costing up to $80million.
Yesterday, OMV spokeswoman Tahlia Rangiwananga confirmed the fleet of vessels was preparing for the start of drilling activities.
She could not say when drilling would start, or how long it would take, as "once the rig’s there there’s a number of things to set up".
"When and if they start drilling, it could be days, it could be weeks, depending on how long things pan out."
The exact number of wells to be drilled would also depend on what was found, but the EPA consent did give the company scope to expand its drilling programme beyond one test well, she confirmed.
News of the drill rig’s arrival was greeted with hostility by Oil Free Otago yesterday, but welcomed by Cr Andrew Whiley, a spokesman for ProGas Otago.
Oil Free Otago spokesman Jack Brazil said OMV’s arrival made a ‘‘mockery’’ of recent decisions to end new oil and gas prospecting in New Zealand.
The company was also ramping up its activities in the South just as fires in Australia showed the consequences of the climate and ecological crisis facing the planet, he said.
"We are seeing a hell-blaze inferno happening in Australia. Those 100 companies responsible for 71% of [global] emissions, including OMV, are adding fuel to that fire."
Another group spokeswoman, Rosemary Penwarden, said OMV appeared also to have speeded up its move to southern waters.
"It looks as though they wanted to move on to this more controversial part of their drilling programme ... while everyone was otherwise occupied and celebrating New Year," Ms Penwarden said.
Both Mr Brazil and Ms Penwarden were coy about protest plans but said on-the-water action could not be ruled out.
"Plans to disrupt at sea are not yet fully formed but OMV should not rest easy," she said.
However, Cr Whiley said the drilling rig’s arrival was "exciting", as a viable discovery could deliver billions of dollars worth of development investment, royalties and jobs to New Zealand.
Some of those benefits would be felt locally, including by local companies acting as suppliers and bigger players making use of the estimated 20% of gas likely to be used domestically.
"I think that you just have to look at Taranaki and all the opportunities that came around it — you look at airport operations, you look at port operations, you’re looking also at support, whether it’s engineering, hospitality," he said.
"When you start looking right across the board ... there’s a lot of benefits right across."
A gas discovery would also provide a valuable transitional fuel, avoiding the need for dirtier energy sources, including coal, he said.
"We do have to live. We do have to fuel our economies," he said.