New Zealand prolongs oil production lifespan of OMV’s 16-year-old field to 2037

August 27, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

OMV New Zealand, a subsidiary of Austria’s OMV, has received a multi-year extension of the petroleum mining permit (PMP) 38160, which encompasses an oil field that has been producing hydrocarbons since 2009 off the coast of New Zealand.

FPSO Raroa operating at the Maari field; Source: MODEC

Nearly three years after Jadestone Energy gave up on taking over the operator role and interest in the OMV-operated Maari oil field offshore New Zealand because of the years-long delay in obtaining the regulatory approval for the acquisition, the country’s government has approved a ten-year extension of PMP 38160, covering the producing oil field.

Located approximately 80 kilometers offshore Taranaki in New Zealand, the Maari field, which recently achieved a major milestone of 50 million barrels of oil produced, is run by a joint venture (JV), encompassing OMV New Zealand (operator, 69%), Horizon Oil (26%), and Cue Energy (5%).

The extended permit, which now expires in December 2037, enables the Maari joint venture to continue long-term production while assessing further opportunities for resource optimization and field enhancement.

Matthew Boyall, Cue Energy’s CEO, commented: “This is exciting news for Cue and the Maari Joint Venture. We thank the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) for granting the permit extension.

“The 10-year extension provides the joint venture with valuable time and flexibility to continue optimising current production and evaluate new opportunities to enhance the long-term performance of Maari.”

Cue Energy claims that recent operational activity, including well workovers and production optimization programs, has lifted production rates to an average of 5,600 barrels of oil per day for August 2025.

As this is the highest monthly rate in over five years, it is perceived to reinforce the value of the mature asset and the effectiveness of the JV’s ongoing investment in the Taranaki Basin. The Maari project is a mid-life producing asset, encompassing the Maari and Manaia oil fields.

Once oil is produced from the wells on the Tiro Tiro Moana wellhead platform and piped to the FPSO Raroa, which is anchored 1.5 kilometers away, it gets offloaded to tankers every few months for transportation to refineries in New Zealand and Australia.