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The potentially oil and gas abundant Raukumara sub-basin is likely to be opened for bidders this year.
Energy Minister David Parker told the Petroleum Conference the basin appeared to be of "material size and prospective for oil" and the Government expected to be able to announce a blocks offer in the third quarter of this year.
GNS Science frontier basins manager Chris Uruski told the conference the signs were good for the area covering 25,000sq km below the offshore Raukumara Plain.
"All the elements of a petroleum system appear to be there, we have source rocks, reservoirs and seals.
"What's the ultimate recovery _ we haven't got a clue yet, it's up to you guys."
Crown Minerals data shows there are possibly oil reserves in the billions of barrels.
Uruski said before his speech there was potentially up to 10 million barrels a sq km in water around 2000m deep and about 2000m below the seabed.
The seismic survey was done in May last year.
Onshore oil had seeped to the surface in three well-known spots on the East Cape for more than 100 years, with one seep producing 50 barrels a day in the 1880s.
In his speech Parker said New Zealand was now well positioned in the global industry of petroleum exploration and development activities, benefiting from sustained commodity prices.
Together the major offshore Taranaki projects _ Tui, Maari, Kupe and Pohokura _ will reach peak production by about 2010 and bring 140 million barrels of new reserves into the market, he said.
New Zealand Oil & Gas chief executive David Salisbury said New Zealand suffered from appearing "gas prone" and being just a tiny producer of oil _ around 0.2 per cent of world supply.
The regulatory framework needed development and the explorers also had a bad reputation for being litigious. "It's very hard to get people interested in doing business in this part of the world."
But this country's political stability and hydro carbon potential meant explorers would continue to look at New Zealand.
NZOG was looking to expand through its oil and gas production at Tui, Kupe and new prospects in Taranaki and also through acquisitions.
