Greymouth explores new NZ oil field

Greymouth Petroleum, a privately owned New Zealand energy company, is exploring a historic oil field in Taranaki and is not ruling out listing on the share market.
The company owned by family interests of Mark Dunphy, a former Fay Richwhite banker with 20 years experience in the Australian energy sector, Peter Masfen, one of New Zealand's best known private investors, and John Sturgess was set up six years ago.
It has a number of oil and gas projects underway in Taranaki in both production and exploration.
The company announced it was importing a drilling rig to explore further potential in the historic Motoroa field near New Plymouth's port.
The company has also been negotiating for six months to get access to the Maui pipeline for gas from its Turangi Field.
Deliveries of gas from that field could be "up there" with other fields, Mr Dunphy said.
The company also said a new gas pool had been discovered at its separate Kaimiro Licence. Flow testing at the site was underway.
Mr Dunphy said the company was privately owned. A listing on the stock market was not something the group was planning immediately "but it is something we wouldn't rule out. If there is a good reason that we could see we would consider it".
Mr Dunphy believed there was great potential in the New Zealand oil and gas industry after it was opened up by the exit of Fletcher Challenge and Shell from the sector.
Motoroa had produced meaningful volumes of oil during its life and the upcoming drilling programme would appraise possible extensions to the field.
Mr Dunphy said before the Europeans arrived in New Zealand Maori were actively using oil flowing on the beach in the area.
"It was really what attracted Shell and BP to explore in New Zealand," he said.
He said the wells drilled in the 1860s were drilled by hand.
"They were not the sort of wells we can drill these days."
The field has so far produced only from vertical drilled wells onshore.
The new drilling programme would drill deviations extending offshore from an onshore site. They would search for both oil and gas.
The Nabors Drilling Rig No. 647 would arrive at the end of the month. It had most recently operated in Western Australia.
"We think there is a good prospect that the Motoroa Fields extend beyond what we know at the moment and that is what the purpose of these wells are," he said.
He said the exploration was not being undertaken because oil prices were high.
Mr Dunphy worked for 20 years in Australia, and was a director and chairman of Cultus Petroleum. He was also involved in a company which had interests in gas pipelines.
There was no doubt in his mind that New Zealand had more oil and gas.
"I think we have to have the right environment with regulators to encourage exploration. And then it is about getting the wells drilled.
"What most people don't realise is that it wasn't until Fletcher was acquired by Shell and then Shell made its divestments that we had real competition in upstream markets in New Zealand.
"That's when Greymouth came in," he said. The company acquired assets from Shell.
"To be able to aggressively go about your business in the upstream (exploration) sector you have to have a base in production income," he said.
"The little companies the Government lets in with no money sit on permits and never do any work," he said.
Mr Dunphy speaks to an energy conference in Wellington on Monday.