No oil or gas discovery for OMV's first well in Great South Basin

Thursday, 20 February 2020

A drilling rig commissioned by oil giant OMV off the coast of Taranaki. (File photo)

Austrian oil and gas company OMV completed exploration of a well in the Great South Basin this week with no major resource discovery.

OMV Australasia vice president Gabriel Selischi said the drilling off the coast of Otago had not resulted in a commercial-scale discovery.

The drilling team was currently preparing to plug and abandon the well, she said.

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) granted consent to OMV in December after oil giant applied for permission to drill up to 10 exploration and appraisal wells, along with consent for associated discharges in the Great South Basin.

* Councillor raises concerns over oil drilling in Great South Basin

Councillor Robert Guyton speaking at the Environment Southland Climate Emergency council meeting in June 2019.

* Spill risks among reasons public needs input into Otago oil exploration plan: Greenpeace**

The Tawhaki-1 exploration well was the first well drilled and explored. Further announcements will follow after analysis of the drilling results are complete, the company said.

The exploratory drilling had been controversial. Environment Southland councillor Robert Guyton raised concerns over the exploratory operation when it was announced, saying it showed a disregard for the climate crisis.

'All the fossil fuel they extract will end up as in the atmosphere as gigatons of greenhouse gases,' he said at the time.

Extinction Rebellion Ōtautahi Christchurch are appealing to boat skippers to get involved and sail them out to the OMV oil rig off the coast of Dunedin.

OMV was also granted permission to discharge trace amounts of harmful substances (up to 250ml per event) from the deck drains of a Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit in September.

Hearings were held for the discharge consent in Dunedin between July 30 and August 1, 2019, where protesters raised their concerns.

The drilling consent was based on a permit OMV obtained in 2007 – before the Government announced its decision to ban new offshore exploration permits in 2018.

Submissions for the drilling were non-notified, meaning public submissions were not sought.

The Great Southern Basin is home to protected species including yellow-eyed penguins, albatross, southern right whales and New Zealand fur seals.

In September, OMV was also granted discharge consent after a three-day hearing in Dunedin in July.

The EPA imposed conditions to carry out environmental monitoring before each well was drilled and for three years after completion. The conditions require these substances to be diluted twice before making it into the ocean, and to notify the EPA within 24 hours of a spill, or as soon as reasonably possible.

The Tawhaki-1 exploration well is the 15th well in the Great South Basin, Selischi told Stuff last month. The area had been under exploration since the 1960s and while no-one had struck oil yet, hydrocarbons were present in many of the wells.

Selischi believed the Great South Basin held some of New Zealand's largest remaining oil reserves.