NZOG sees ‘more potential’ in Barque prospect off New Zealand

New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZOG) has revealed more prospective resources than initially thought after analyzing seismic data of the Barque prospect offshore New Zealand.

The company informed on Tuesday it has updated its analysis of the Barque prospect offshore from South Canterbury and North Otago, and believes there is more potential than previously thought.

NZOG is the operator of the license with a 50 percent stake while the other half of the joint venture is held by Beach Energy.

The company also said it is in discussions with potential partners to drill and farm out the prospect.

Analysis of the prospect located in the Clipper permit has been underway since a 3D seismic survey was completed at the end of 2013.

The survey revealed up to three horizons in the structure now totaling 11 trillion cubic feet of gas (tcf), and 1.5 billion barrels of liquid (oil or gas condensate) within the proven petroleum system with 5.5 tcf and 750 million barrels net to New Zealand Oil & Gas.

The primary reservoir target is estimated to contain 5.5 tcf of gas and 785 million barrels of associated condensate with 2.75 tcf and 392 million barrels net to NZOG.

The company said that the preferred gas recycling development concept could yield a field containing 460 million barrels of gas, as well as 1.3 tcf of gas, from one horizon alone.

If all three horizons were developed simultaneously, a gas-to-shore LNG project is considered the most likely model. It could yield 8.2 tcf of raw gas, of which 4.8 tcf could be available for conversion to LNG in addition to 8.5 million tonnes of LPG and 600 million barrels of condensate.

According to the company, the Barque horizon volume represents an upgrade from the June 2015 quarterly report where the company said that it was entitled to 265 million barrels net.

The prospect lies in about 800 meters of water, approximately 60 kilometers from shore east of Oamaru. The target formations lie between 2,500 and 3,000 meters below mean sea level

The company added that the figures include no reserves or contingent resources and relates only to prospective resources.