KEY POINTS:
New Zealand owned and operated Greymouth Petroleum yesterday agreed to buy the Surrey, Windsor, and Radnor oil mining permits from the American company Westech Energy New Zealand for an undisclosed sum.
Greymouth is also on gas contracting arrangements with Methanex and Vector, effective from April 1, 2007.
The interests include all of Petroleum Mining Permit (PMP) 38159 and PMP 38152, and a one-third interest in both PMP 38157 and in the petroleum exploration permit PEP38751 (which abuts Radnor and Mt Taranaki).
Wells are planned for PEP 38751 with permit holders Bridge Petroleum and Tag Oil in the next quarter.
This month, Greymouth said it had discovered significant oil reservoirs yielding 200 barrels a day on New Plymouth's doorstep in the Moturoa wells in Port Taranaki.
In the next 12 months, Greymouth will drill wells in the Surrey oil field area and expected at least two wells to be drilled in the Radnor area, following resolution of the forward work programme in that permit.
Greymouth chief of operations John Sturgess said the purchases would allow permit consolidation and synergy benefits from its other operations and fields in the Central Taranaki area. Sturgess said the acquired permits had been the subject of extensive exploration but limited oil and gas production in previous years.
They represented a meaningful expansion of Greymouth's onshore Central Taranaki oil and gas mining permit interests, infrastructure and acreage position.
Greymouth now had about 670sq km of exploration permits.
In another development, Greymouth said it had successfully operated a market for spot gas since October 2006. It anticipated markets for spot, excess and shortfall gas would develop further in the next 12 months, as gas customers became aware of the flexibility, price and other advantages of this new gas market.
This month, United States company Swift Energy said it was planning to sell its New Zealand oil and gas reserves, comprising 16 per cent of the country's total.
The company - which operates through Swift Energy New Zealand - said in a statement it saw value in its New Zealand assets "that is not being realised in our current stock valuation".
- NZPA
