Petroleum

Exploring in the Taranaki Basin: An Overview

The Taranaki Basin covers an area of about 330,000 km2 and is currently the only producing basin in New Zealand. Over 400 onshore and offshore exploration and production wells have been drilled to date.

Recently ranked 5th in the world for investment in oil and gas exploration, the country’s oil and gas estate is managed according to exploration and mining permits, all of which are in the Taranaki basin.

At the end of 2009, total ultimately recoverable reserves (P50) in Taranaki amounted to 222.8 mmbbl of oil and condensate and 7,117.6 bcf of gas. Remaining un-produced reserves of oil and condensate were 171.4 mmbbl, and of gas were 1,917.3 bcf.

Fields include: Offshore: Maui (gas-condensate and oil), Tui Area (oil), Pohokura (gas-condensate), Maari-Manaia (oil), Kupe (gas-condensate).

Onshore: Kapuni (gas-condensate), McKee (oil and gas), Tariki-Ahuroa (gas-condensate), Waihapa-Ngaere (oil and gas), Ngatoro (oil and gas), Kaimiro (oil and gas), Mangahewa (gas-condensate), Rimu-Kauri (oil and gas), Cheal (oil), Turangi (gas). Recent discoveries include: Tui (2003, oil), Karewa (2003, gas), Turangi (2005, gas), Awakino South (2008, gas), Kowhai (2008, gas).

The Taranaki Basin is characterised by its variety of play types, mostly structural in nature but found in wide age range: from Late Cretaceous to Pliocene. Although the majority of exploration wells have targeted anticlinal or four-way dip closures, the mechanisms that produced these features can be radically different due to the basin’s complex tectonic history.

More details on the Taranaki Basin can be obtained at the New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals Website