New Zealand’s centre-right coalition government on Thursday granted a new energy mining permit in the onshore Taranaki region, an oil-and-gas-rich area on the country’s North Island, saying it would bring more gas to the domestic market.
Matahio NZ Onshore Ltd was awarded a 10-year permit covering parts of the Puka field and the Oru prospect, Resources Minister Shane Jones said in a statement.
As only the second petroleum mining permit to be granted in the past eight years but one of two granted in the last year or so, this is yet another signal that momentum in New Zealand’s petroleum sector is growing,” Jones said.
Jones, an advocate for the fossil fuel sector, said gas would remain critical to New Zealand’s energy mix in the decades ahead, helping support power generation in dry years when hydropower output falls.
Matahio estimates recoverable reserves from the existing Puka discovery at about 170,000 barrels of oil and 1.3 billion cubic feet of gas.
An independent assessment of the Oru prospect estimates prospective resources of 1.8 million barrels of oil and 1.2 billion cubic feet of gas.
The Labour Party-led government in 2018 blocked all new offshore permits and limited onshore permits to existing allocations in Taranaki.
Critics have blamed the policy for contributing to a surge in energy prices as domestic gas production declined.
(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
