Oil Companies Search for NZ Oil Treasure

Four oil companies have been given the go-ahead to explore the Great South Basin in New Zealand, expected to be one of the richest oil and gas reserves in the country.

Exxonmobil and New Zealand's Todd Exploration will spend more than NZD$1 billion in oil searches over the next five years. They will be joined by the Mitsui Exploration, OMV New Zealand and the Royal Thai Government.

The NZ Government estimates tens of millions of dollars will also be spent by the consortiums on support services from local companies in the next five years.

ExxonMobil is hoping to discover large volumes of gas which it plans to pipe to a new plant. It will then be converted to liquid form for export.

OMV – who has won three exploration licences - believes advances in technology will help overcome the area's deep water and wild weather.

There is very little data on the basin because only eight wells have ever been drilled in the 1970s and 1980s.

By Ozge Ibrahim