New Zealand Energy secures East Cape permit

New Zealand Energy (NZEC) has announced that it has secured a 100% stake in the East Cape permit, covering one million acres on the northeast tip of New Zealand’s North Island.

The East Coast basin is expected to include significant resource potential from conventional Miocene sands and unconventional oil shales, and includes around 300 onshore oil or natural gas seeps.

The company noted that the Waipawa and Whangai shale formations are two oil shale packages that are rich in organic carbon and locally naturally fractured in the basin.

By the second quarter of 2016, the company plans to complete technical studies, reprocessing 145km of 2D seismic and acquiring 40km of new 2D seismic data, and drilling exploration wells in the permit.

NZEC CEO John Proust said the company now controls the largest exploration portfolio in the country’s East Coast basin.

"NZEC’s technical work over the last three years has given us a much greater understanding of the East Coast Basin," Proust added.

NZEC has around 2.2 million acres of conventional and unconventional prospects in the Taranaki basin and East Coast basin of North Island. The company also plans to drill exploration wells on the Castlepoint and Wairoa permits in 2014, which are also located in the East Coast basin.