2 APRIL 2014

New Zealand Government announces Petroleum Block Offer 2014 tender
The New Zealand Government has launched Petroleum Block Offer 2014.

Five offshore and three onshore areas totalling over 405,000 square kilometres have been put out for the international offer.

National Manager Petroleum at New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals, Kevin Rolens, says the release areas comprise a range of exploration opportunities, spanning well-explored areas through to frontier regions where little or no exploration has taken place.

The offshore areas being tendered in Block Offer 2014 are:

• Reinga-Northland Basin (North Island) – 75,190.50 km²
• New Caledonia Basin (North Island) – 49,051.79 km²
• Taranaki Basin (North Island) – 54,920.92 km²
• Pegasus-East Coast Basin (North Island) – 75,009.04 km²
• Great South & Canterbury Basin (South Island) – 141,755.68 km²

The onshore areas being tendered in Block Offer 2014 are:

• East Coast Basin (North Island) – 1,341.43 km²
• Taranaki Basin (North Island) – 1,159.03 km²
• West Coast Basin (South Island) – 6,752.19 km²

“The response to Block Offers over the past two years has demonstrated that New Zealand presents a compelling proposition for international investors in the oil and gas sector,” Mr Rolens says.

“The Block Offer is an important part of developing New Zealand’s future oil and gas reserves, and to promoting a stable path to oil and gas production. It enables the government to strategically manage exploration interest.”

The tender opens today and closes on 25 September. Block Offer 2014 will be the third time the Government has used the annual competitive tender round to grant permits for oil and gas exploration.

The government expects to award exploration permits for Block Offer 2014 in December 2014.

Data packs, containing more than 239,000km of 2D and 11,000km² of 3D seismic data, can be ordered through the NZP&M website.

The pack also features a broad range of information including open-file seismic and well data, a range of GIS and workstation projects, interpretation projects, reports and studies.

Click here for more information on Block Offer 2014.

Nominations open for Block Offer 2015
New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals has opened nominations for Block Offer 2015. Interested parties are invited to nominate areas of interest (such as a basin or sub-basin) you would like us to release for tender. Nominations should be on the basis of prospectivity and should provide some evidence to support the nomination.

Nominations close on 3 June. All nominations are confidential. There is no guarantee that nominated areas will be included in the proposed or final block selection of future Block Offers. Parties that make a nomination are not obliged to bid on the area or areas they nominate.

Proposed release areas will be selected based on prospectivity and likely commercial interest. New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals will then consult with iwi, hapū and local authorities on the proposed release areas. Final Block Offer 2015 release areas will be announced in April 2015.

Click here for information on making a nomination.

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