New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZO)

Shares / Stock Code

NZO

Stock Exchange / Sharemarket

ax

New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZO) is a Wellington-based petroleum and mineral exploration and production company. The company has exploration permits in the Taranaki basin and coking coal deposits in the Paparoa mountain range. NZO's assets include the Tui Area Oil Development, the Kupe project and the Pike River Coal Development. In Oct-08, NZO acquired a 40% share of a permit in the offshore Canterbury basin and in Dec-08, it acquired a 15% stake in Pan Pacific Petroleum, one of its partners in the Tui area oil fields.The company was listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in 1981 and on the Australian stockmarket (ASX) in April 1989. Its head office is situated in Wellington, New Zealand.

A cornerstone project for New Zealand Oil & Gas is its Kupe gas and oil field. This field is the second largest underdeveloped gas field in NZ. The Kupe project will produce gas, light oil and LPG and will provide a diversified income stream to NZO. The project is planned to commence production in late 2009.

Most oil is sold to the nearest refinery at the spot price, whilst gas is typically sold under long-term contracts with price escalators linked to inflation. Because of the global nature of the oil market, every oil producer is a competitor. For gas producers, competition is much more localised and depends on pipeline access to markets. Key competitors of NZO include Rio Tinto, BHP, CH4 Gas Ltd (CHX) and Bounty Oil & Gas (BUY).