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Significant oil reservoirs have been uncovered on New Plymouth's doorstep by a joint venture between Greymouth Petroleum and Taranaki hapu Ngati Te Whiti.
The partnership has announced that its Moturoa wells in Port Taranaki had tapped into a large reservoir supplying in excess of 200 barrels a day.
It had also uncovered gas reserves and the extent of the supply potential was being investigated.
Greymouth Petroleum, a privately-owned New Zealand company, started drilling in partnership with the hapu about seven years ago.
Chief operating officer John Sturgess said the drilling techniques, which involved depths over 2500 metres, had achieved the best oil flow rates ever recorded in the area.
Ngati Te Whiti board of trustees chairman Peter Love said the discovery was hugely exciting for the small Te Ati Awa hapu, which roughly encapsulates New Plymouth's city area.
"I don't know of any other Maori that have searched for oil before -- or any Maori organisation, group or entity that has had a joint oil exploration venture -- and I certainly don't know of any Maori organisation that has struck oil before," Mr Love told NZPA.
He said Ngati Te Whiti was approached years ago by Greymouth Petroleum to partner them and the hapu was pleased to do so once partnership details were ironed out.
The hapu had not invested capital but had shares in the company and stood to benefit financially if there were exploration successes.
Mr Love said the hapu was warned that oil and gas exploration was a high risk venture.
"I said, 'well I'm not worried because I don't have any money, you have to pay for everything. If you're prepared to pay for the up front costs until we do get something ... "'
Mr Love said as guardians of the area in question Ngati Te Whiti was able to contribute both spiritually and practically.
He said initially there were long term hopes the venture would pay off.
"But you could have bowled me over with a feather when they rang me yesterday," he said. "It didn't really sink in until today. It's exciting because it's a huge surprise."
Mr Love said he had been informed in the past of single-figure barrel production finds, but 200 a day was huge.
The estimated on the life of the reserve was about 20 years.
"And the other thing is that it's onshore ... the fact it's onshore is a huge advantage."
Greymouth Petroleum said Shell NZ, which owns large storage facilities in near the oil field, had advised the joint venture it would not accept further crude deliveries.
Mr Love said that meant the partnership would look to set up its own facilities.
The Moturoa field is among the first produced in the world and oil was first discovered there in 1866.
- NZPA
