The government of New Zealand awarded five permits for offshore oil and gas exploration in Block Offer 2013. Australia’s Woodside Energy Holdings and New Zealand Oil and Gas were jointly awarded two offshore permits-one in the Taranaki region, the country’s only petroleum- producing area, and another off the southern tip off the South Island. New Zealand Oil & Gas also received one offshore Great South Basin South-Canterbury permit on its own. New Zealand Octanex received a permit to explore off Taranaki. Norway’s Statoil Lambda Netherlands BV was given a permit to explore off the northwest coast of the North Island: Reinga-Northland.
