Oil find 'just a matter of time'

By SIMON COLLINS

The prospect of a "North Sea-scale" oil and gas field off the west coast of Northland has been raised again by the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences.

The institute's petroleum research programme leader, Dr Peter King, says it is gearing up for a surge of exploration work round New Zealand, with world oil prices at record highs.

The institute's annual report, tabled in Parliament on Friday, said its research showed "significant potential for North Sea-scale oil and gas fields not only off the coast of Taranaki, but also off the west coast of Northland where, using reprocessed seismic data, we have identified up to 30 possible drilling targets".

"Five of these targets are about 100sq km in area - approaching the size of the giant Maui gas field," it said.

Even more - "at least a dozen Maui-sized structures" - had been identified in the East Coast Basin extending from East Cape south to Marlborough.

The upbeat report follows a Government incentive package for oil and gas exploration announced in June, including an extra $15 million in the next two to three years for "pre-competitive" research.

King said that with bids for drilling rights off Northland due to close on December 15, the focus of the next research would be on the east coast.

He hopes to investigate a layer of marine sediment laid down about 55 million years ago called Waipawa black shale, which is believed to have a higher ratio of oil to gas than the Taranaki formations where Maui gas was found.

King said the institute was also doing cutting-edge research to show that the kind of "coaly" rocks where Maui gas was found could also contain oil.

"Although we need gas, the companies are still wanting to find oil because it's got a higher commodity price," he said.

"The research we are doing, I feel, is genuinely world-leading in helping to demonstrate that our coaly source rocks are generating significant quantities of oil.

"That will be a significant contribution to demonstrating that New Zealand is an oil province, not just a gas province."

King said it was "probably just a matter of time" until a substantive oil discovery was made.

Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences