Healthy prospects deep down under

摘要

Oil explorers ih New Zealand are about to step out into deeper water exploration following good oil flows from the new offshore Taranaki oil fields. Lindsay Clark reports. A100mn barrel oil field at Maari -the largest crude oil field ever found in New Zealand - was brought into production this year by the Austrian-owned company OMV and partners. This follows the success of the 50mn barrel offshore Tui crude oil field, which began flowing two years earlier. The two discoveries have encouraged more intense investment in exploration offshore Taranaki, with some 23 exploration permits now being worked in this one basin. Other oil companies have also begun work exploring New Zealand's many frontier basins on its long and wide continental shelf.