Todd Gas gets rights to explore
Todd Energy has been granted another 105sq km of Taranaki to explore, almost two years after the Government declared an end to offshore exploration as part of its climate change response.
The new onshore acreage lies directly south of the company’s McKee-Mangahewa gas field. The 10-year permit, unusually, is effective immediately and requires the company to complete a range of studies before completing one well by April 2024.
The permit granted yesterday was the only new activity approved under the Government’s 2018 block offer. It lies east of the Supplejack gas field operated by Tamarind Resources and west of the Tuihu exploration permit Todd was granted in 2016.
The Government shocked the industry on April 12, 2018, by banning new offshore exploration without consultation and against the advice of officials.
One of the reasons given at the time for the speed of the decision was the need to quickly advance the 2018 block offer, which was to be limited to onshore Taranaki.
Todd Energy is the country’s second-largest gas producer after OMV, a major supplier to industry and the operator of a string of smaller, gas-fired power stations.
It has a 26 per cent stake in the offshore Pohokura field and owns outright the Mangahewa and Kapuni fields, having bought partner Shell out of the latter in 2017.
Pohokura and Mangahewa were the country’s biggest gas producers last year, delivering 67.6 petajoules and 36.6 petajoules respectively, according to government data.
Total gas consumption in 2019 was about 178 PJ.
Kapuni is the country’s oldest producing field and Todd has been planning for a new round of drilling there next year.
Last week, national grid operator Transpower reiterated the importance of natural gas supplies for the country’s decarbonisation efforts, both for winter and dry-year power supplies, but also as a lower-carbon replacement for coal in industrial heat.