New Zealand Oil & Gas has again upgraded its estimates of the oil and gas deposits in the deepwater Barque prospect, about 60km off the coast from Oamaru. Due diligence on Barque is under way with unnamed international oil companies having signed confidentiality agreements with New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZOG). NZOG said the Barque estimate had almost tripled, to 11trillion cubic feet of gas and 1.5million barrels of oil or gas condensate. Most recently NZOG sold its 27.5% stake in the Tui area oil fields off Taranaki to Malaysian based Tamarind for $US750,000. NZOG had earlier sold its 15% stake in the Kupe oil and gas fields to Genesis Energy for $168million.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 21, 2017 17:08 UTC