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The Government is calling for bids on nine onshore Taranaki petroleum blocks covering 3273 square kilometres.
Some of the companies to have already shown interest in the blocks had the type of experience needed to unlock deep gas reserves considered to be under-explored, associate energy minister Harry Duynhoven said.
The companies had been attracted by the size of the blocks and their underlying prospectivity, he said.
"The blocks offer will provide significant opportunities to discover and develop new sources of gas for domestic use, as well as oil to assist New Zealand's energy future and economic growth," Mr Duynhoven said today.
A large area had been aggregated in recent years in Taranaki to provide explorers with blocks of material size that contained a broad range of exploration opportunities, he said.
"With oil prices at near record levels it is important that we maximise the potential for new exploration investment."
The offer of the onshore Taranaki blocks was being supported by a large and modern technical data package which would be made freely available to explorers from today.
While the New Zealand Energy Strategy emphasised a renewable energy future, it also recognised that more gas needed to be found to fuel current thermal baseload and peaking plant for electricity generation, as well as industrial and residential uses, he said.
The bidding round will close on May 30.
- NZPA
