Successful oil prospectors' arrival 'positive signal'

By CHRIS DANIELS


Government energy officials are singing the praises of two new companies that are coming to New Zealand exploring for oil and gas.

Pogo Producing Company from Houston, and Australia-based oil and gas company Roc Oil, have both won the right to start exploring in Taranaki, the first time either has come to New Zealand.

Pogo has rights to three blocks of offshore exploration permits, while Roc is going to drill a well onshore.

Pogo is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, while Roc Oil is on the Australian Stock Exchange.

The chief executive of Roc Oil, John Doran, said it was exploring at a site that he had previously worked on in the 1980s.

It was not "raw exploration" and New Zealand posed less of a challenge than working in other countries did.

Roc operates Britain's biggest onshore gas field and has exploration projects in Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania, Angola, China and Australia.

Pogo director of investor relations Clay Jeansonne said the company, which has been listed on the NYSE since 1978, would be "shooting seismic" over the next year and a half.

Then, depending on the prospects revealed, Pogo would begin drilling.

Pogo has oil exploration properties in the Gulf of Mexico, Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming and Louisiana, as well as the Gulf of Thailand and Hungary.

In New Zealand the challenges would be to "better understand the the fundamentals of the gas market, the different ways to drill and explore", he said.

Adam Feeley, group manager of Crown Resources, which runs the bidding round for oil and gas exploration permits, said both Pogo and Roc were good companies, "the kind of company we want in New Zealand. They've got capability in terms of experience and resources. They've got good track records."

The arrival of these new companies sent a positive signal to the international oil and gas sector, which was an industry where perceptions were important, said Feeley.