Off-shore drilling in New Zealand

From the pro-development lobby - however,  useful for the maps they have provided. 
Note this is just the off-shore drilling

New Zealand: Barely Scratching Offshore Potential

The Maritime Executive,

2 April 2014

New Zealand’s Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges has launched the country’s third annual block offer for oil and gas exploration which included five offshore release areas in the Reinga-Northland Basin, Taranaki Basin, New Caledonia Basin, Pegasus-East Coast Basin and Great South-Canterbury Basin (maps below).

"Oil is our fourth largest export, with a value of around $1.8 billion in 2012. The Government receives around 42 per cent of the profits, or approximately $700 million each year. This money is invested back into our communities in key infrastructure projects like schools, roads and hospitals. But we have barely scratched the surface of our potential,” says Bridges. “If just one more of our 18 basins was opened for production, like Taranaki, it would be an economic game-changer for our nation.”

Last year’s block offer saw Statoil and Woodside enter the country for the first time. Another recent entrant, Anadarko, however, plugged and abandoned its exploration well in deepwater offshore Taranaki.

The majority of New Zealand’s oil and gas activity is focus around Taranaki. The Taranaki basin covers an area of about 100,000 square kilometres on the west coast of the North Island. Offshore drilling commenced there in the late 1960’s, and the country’s largest oil and gas field, Maui, was discovered off Taranaki in 1969. Maui commenced production in 1979 and is still producing.

Exploration continues. The Archer Emerald modular offshore drilling unit is currently drilling sidetrack wells from the Maui A platform. Discovered in 1969 by a joint venture consisting of Shell, BP and Todd Petroleum, the Maui gas field was one of the largest in the world at the time. Dominant for 40 years, it is now largely depleted and the country’s production is now focused on Kupe and Pokokura.

The jack-up Ensco Rig 107 arrived in New Zealand from Singapore in March to commence a drilling program at the Maari oil field for OMV which could last nine months, reports Energy Stream NZ. Maari is New Zealand’s largest oil field, and it lies 80 km off the south Taranaki coast.

Tui oil field operator AWE is currently employing the semisub Kan Tan IV to drill a northern extension to the Pateke Prospect, a proven producing reservoir. The drilling has indicated the likely presence of oil. Tui is located offshore in the Taranaki basin approximately 50km off the coast in water depth of about 120m. Production began in 2007, less than five years after discovery, and 20 months after the investment decision was taken. In October 2013 New Zealand Oil & Gas more than doubled its interest in the field, from 12.5 per cent to 27.5 per cent when Mitsui E&P Australia sold its 35 per cent share. Current partners are New Zealand Oil & Gas 27.5 per cent, AWE 57.5 per cent and Pan Pacific Petroleum 15 per cent.

This latest release, including east coast acreage, demonstrates a growing interest in regions beyond Taranaki. Schlumberger Seaco, for example aims to acquire at least 3400km of 2D seismic data on its offshore East Coast Basin license. This is the second prospecting permit for the company in less than two years. Schlumberger shot the biggest single 3D seismic survey yet in New Zealand in 2012. The survey covered over 5,000 square km north of the Pohokura gas-condensate field.

Bridges said the government is opening industry nominations for the 2015 block offer so that explorers can identify where they believe effort will be most worthwhile