International workshop a resounding success

The event kicked off at Te Papa Tongarewa, the country’s national museum in Wellington, where overseas visitors were introduced to New Zealand with a mixture of culture, music and art.

It concluded with a very successful one-day workshop, led by international energy expert Duncan Clarke, chairman and chief executive of Global Pacific & Partners, which was attended by representatives from 10 major oil and gas companies around the world.

For most participants, this event was their first look at New Zealand and its petroleum regimes. They included representatives from United States majors Chevron and ConocoPhillips. Other US companies represented were Hess, Murphy Oil Corporation, Apache Corporation, and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, which already has offshore exploration permits in the Deepwater Taranaki and Canterbury basins.

There were also representatives from China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), Norwegian state oil company Statoil, Korea Gas Company and Italian global major ENI.

Petroleum director Kevin Rolens says the event was an excellent start to the Government’s new initiatives, as outlined in the Petroleum Action Plan, and the recently released New Zealand Energy Strategy 2011-2021.

"This is an excellent start to our new initiatives and the workshop has already resulted in some participants requesting sub-surface technical data and reports.

The bar is being raised. It’s about getting the right operators on the right permits at the right time. This shift will, over time, push out exploration into New Zealand’s vast frontier areas and companies that have right mix of technical capability, working capital and desire to succeed will be sufficiently rewarded."

Participants now more fully appreciate the country’s petroleum fiscal and regulatory environments, including our intention to hold yearly exploration blocks offers across different geological petroleum basins.

"Some companies have suggested that we consider making the financial terms even more rewarding for those willing to take bigger risks in the far frontier.

Such ideas will be taken into consideration as we go about deciding when and how to get the most value from our vast petroleum estate."

Related links

New Zealand Energy Strategy - More news - Petroleum Action Plan