Exxon Mobil gets an extra year to decide on drilling

Thursday 8th October 2009

Oil industry "super-major" Exxon Mobil has sought and been granted an extension to its drilling licence for oil and gas exploration in the Great South Basin.

Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee announced the extension today to allow Exxon and locally owned Todd Energy until 10 Ocotber 2010 to decide whether to drill any exploratory wells, and then until October 2011 to do such drilling.

Exxon was approaching a so-called "drill or drop" date on its Permit 50117 for drilling in the Great South Basin.

The application was not unusual, said Brownlee, who foreshadowed further announcements shortly on a further campaign of government-funded seismic data collection over the coming summer.

Industry analysts have regarded Exxon's potential announcement of a drilling programme for New Zealand as icing on the cake following the recent spate of commercial finds by mid-sized operators of generally Australian and New Zealand origin.

Businesswire.co.nz

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