New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZOG) is upping the potential at the Barque prospect offshore New Zealand, following an updated analysis.
Barque is offshore South Canterbury and North Otago, in the Canterbury basin, approximately 60km from shore east of Oamaruat, at about 800m water depth.
Analysis of the prospect in the Clipper permit, PEP 52717, revealed up to three horizons in the structure, the Willington-based company said.
Best estimates of unrisked petroleum in place in these horizons now total 11 Tcf of gas and 1.5 billion bbl of liquid which include oil or gas condensate.
Since operator NZOG, and partner Adelaide-based Beach Energy both share a 50:50 partnership in the permit, their share within the proven petroleum system totals 5.5 Tcf gas and 750 MMbbl liquid each.
However, NZOG said it is currently presenting farm-in opportunities internationally to prospective partners with experience and scale to drill a deepwater prospect like Barque.
NZOG said if all three horizons are developed simultaneously, a gas-to-shore liquefied natural gas project (LNG) project is considered the most likely development concept.
It could yield 8.2 Tcf of raw gas, of which 4.8 Tcf could be available for conversion to LNG, plus 8.5 million tonne of liquefied petroleum gas and almost 600 MMbbl of condensate. The target formations lie between 2500-3000m below sea level.
Image: Map of Clipper permit / NZOG