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17
Taranaki Blocks Up For Grabs
The
New Zealand Government has announced a further petroleum exploration bidding
round for 17 blocks in the Taranaki Basin that includes prime northern
offshore and onshore acreage.
Bids
for this latest round close on October 30th, while Canterbury Basin blocks
close May 30th and on September 30th for the deep water Taranaki. The
offshore Northland Basin has been set aside for bidding in late 2003 or
early 2004.
New
Zealand Associate Minister of Energy, Harry Duynhoven, made the move as
the nation comes to grips with the reality of a rapidly depleting Maui
field.
"The
energy sector faces major challenges over the next few years. New Zealand
needs new discoveries of oil and gas through continuing exploration",
the Minister said.
Duynhoven
said he is confident that changing market dynamics, including looming
gas shortages brought about by the depleting Maui field and increasing
wellhead prices, coupled with Taranaki's existing infrastructure, should
attract the attention of explorers.
Some
of the names that have already been mentioned in the media include Apache,
Unocal and Woodside.
As
for the 17 blocks themselves, eight are onshore and nine offshore. The
onshore blocks on offer cover an area of 590 km2 or (146,000 acres). The
blocks are to the east near the Tarata thrust that contains the TAWN gas-condensate
and oil fields. Other onshore blocks are located adjacent to fields containing
the Kapuni Group sandstones and Miocene turbidities.
The
nine offshore blocks, which cover an area of 12,180 km2 or (3 MM acres),
are bounded to the south by the Pohokura gas-condensate discovery, the
Tui-1 oil discovery to the southwest and by the Karewa-1 discovery to
the north of the block.
According
to petroleum exploration consultants, GeoSphere Exploration, the offshore
area north of New Plymouth, dubbed the Northern Taranaki Graben, is the
most promising exploration theatre in New Zealand for finding large oil
accumulations.
GeoSphere
said the source rocks are oil prone and mature. In addition, hydrocarbon
migration paths appear to be largely controlled by basin deformation and
faulting. "Reservoir sequences are well developed and spread throughout
the stratigraphic column", GeoSphere said.
"Numerous
leads with recoverable reserves estimates in excess of 100 MMbbl have
been identified and large reaches of the graben, north and south of PEP38468,
are yet to be re-evaluated."
GeoSphere
said exploration of the graben has in the past been neglected because
of the discouragement of numerous igneous features and the depth to many
of the traditional reservoir sequences.
"However,
volcanism and subsidence may be beneficial to the hydrocarbon system in
controlling deposition of source and reservoir rocks, forcing maturation,
directing migration and providing seal rocks."
Many
wells around the periphery of the graben have made discoveries, such as
those at the Pohokura and Kora accumulations, and significant shows have
been recorded, such as those at Tangaroa-1 and Turi-1 wells.
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