The New Zealand subsidiary of Austrian oil giant OMV is expected to announce an update in Invercargill today on whether it will test-drill offshore for oil and gas in the Great South Basin.
Secrecy surrounds the announcement due to the media sensitivity of one of the partners.
The announcement could be affected by snow and carried out by a teleconference. Final arrangements were being completed yesterday.
One of the potential partners could be Petrobras, which faced hundreds of protesters opposed to oil exploration off East Cape, when plans were announced in April.
Petrobras is conducting a survey of 12,000sq km of seabed in the Raukumara Basin to determine if oil or gas are likely to be under the ocean floor in commercial quantities.
The Brazilian company has a permit to conduct the search, and a legal obligation to continue under the terms of an agreement with the New Zealand Government.
Details of the announcement were leaked to protesting organisations, enabling them to gear up their response and opposition before the official release.
In the south, 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 respectively oil giants Exxon and OMV were awarded Great South Basin permits, almost four years ago.
The Otago Daily Times earlier reported that OMV New Zealand, which is the country's largest oil producer and third-largest gas producer, had applied to the Ministry of Economic Development to defer its drilling commitment dates on three Great South Basin permits from July 10 until 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.
In April, the company was seen to be sending positive signals on the potential for exploration drilling in the Great South Basin, after altering work commitments which could include more ship-borne seismic acquisition or test drilling.
In early July 2007, five-year permits for six of a total 40 Great South Basin exploration blocks were awarded to the two consortiums: US Exxon Mobil (90%), being the world's largest non-government oil company, and Todd Exploration New Zealand (10%).
In the second consortium, OMV New Zealand Ltd has a 36% share with partners PTTEP Offshore Investment, of Thailand (36%), and Mitsui Exploration and Production Australia, of Japan (28%).
In October last year, the Exxon-led consortium relinquished its Great South Basin exploration permit, citing technical risks and the lack of a third partner.
