'No rigs available’

Press, 21 August 1979, Page 21

' No rigs available’

PA Wellington Further oil exploration off the New Zealand coast has been ruled out by oil companies until well into next year because no drilling rig is available. The Iranian revolution earlier this year has resulted not only in a shortage of world oil supplies but also in a shortage of drilling rigs.

A spokesman for the Shell-BP-Todd consortium said that even if an exploration agreement was reached with the Government immediately it would be many months before a rig would be available. The consortium would miss out on the coming summer and summer was the best season to drill.

“Since the events in Iran there has been a tremendous upsurge in oil exploration all around the world,” said the spokesman. “This has resulted in a shortage of rigs and we’re at the back of the queue.” Shell-BP-Todd has two more wells to drill in the Maui area off Taranaki under the terms of its current prospecting licence. The consortium, in partnership with Shell of America, has also applied for a licence to drill a highly prospective structure off Kawhia. Another company. New Zealand Petroluem. backed by Triton Oil, of Dallas, Texas, is keen to drill off the West Coast. They want to use the same rig as Shell-BP-Todd to cut costs. The Hunt-Phillips consortium, which previously drilled in the Great South Basin, is more interested in carrying out further seismic work than drilling.