The New Zealand subsidiary of Austrian oil giant OMV, which had until this week to decide whether to test drill for oil and gas in the Great South Basin, has requested a two-month deferral.
Large tracts of new ship-borne seismic data has been collated on the Great South Basin and Canterbury Basin during the past four years.
However, it is only a fraction of the $1.2 billion exploration spend-up touted when separate consortiums led by oil giants Exxon and OMV were awarded Great South Basin permits almost four years ago to the day.
OMV New Zealand, which is the country's largest oil producer and third largest gas producer, said yesterday it had applied to the Ministry of Economic Development to defer its drilling commitment dates on three Great South Basin permits from July 10 to September 10.
"OMV has stated that they are committed to ongoing exploration of the Great South Basin and require additional time to refine the scope of work for the next phase," the company said in a statement yesterday.
In May, the Government, which puts great store in oil and gas exploration and production contributing to an economic recovery, increased the budget for permitting agency Crown Minerals more than 50%, from $9.81 million to $14.8 million.
In the 2009 Budget, about $20 million was allocated over three years towards a seismic data acquisition programme run by Crown Minerals, including its own marine hydrographic seismic programmes to collate data to entice oil and gas explorers to New Zealand.
In the separate Canterbury Basin permit, oil industry sources working around Australia and Asia have speculated there is a shortage of rigs available for US-based Anadarko to lease. Leasing rigs would be the main cost of its $US30 million ($NZ36.5 million) share in the Canterbury permit, where drilling is proposed 65km off the coast from Dunedin.
Anadarko is the operational partner in a 50-50 joint venture with Australian-listed Origin Energy to drill Canterbury.
Sources have said the earliest available rig would not be available for the end of the year as planned, but for February-March, or, in a worst case scenario, would have to be deferred to the next summer.
Anadarko was contacted last week on this industry speculation, but said "nothing has changed" since telling the Otago Daily Times a month ago it remained committed to its pledge to a test-drilling programme in the Canterbury Basin. However, Anadarko is yet to make a final decision on the drill date.
• In early July 2007, five-year permits for six of a total 40 Great South Basin exploration blocks were awarded to two consortiums - US Exxon Mobil (90%), the world's largest non-government oil company, and Todd Exploration New Zealand (10%).
OMV New Zealand Ltd has a 36% share in the second consortium with partners PTTEP Offshore Investment, of Thailand (36%), and Mitsui Exploration and Production Australia, of Japan (28%).
Last October, the Exxon-led consortium relinquished its Great South Basin exploration permit, citing technical risks and the lack of a third partner.
