PETROCORP LOSES N.Z. LEGAL TIFF

A group led by Petrocorp has lost a 3 year legal battle over rights to the Ngaere license in New Zealand's onshore Taranaki basin.

March 25, 1991

A group led by Petrocorp has lost a 3 year legal battle over rights to the Ngaere license in New Zealand's onshore Taranaki basin.

The Privy Council in London last week overturned a New Zealand appellate court ruling that former Energy Minister David Butcher had acted illegally in granting himself title-on behalf of the government-to the Ngaere license, which is thought to contain as much as 25 million bbl of oil. The dispute ensnared Petrocorp's development of Waihapa gas/condensate field on a contiguous license (OGJ, Nov. 19, 1990, p. 33). Petrocorp pressed Waihapa development despite the dispute. Waihapa, where the government holds a 38% interest, is producing more than 10,000 b/d of condensate from six wells. The Petrocorp group had claimed Butcher took the action only after seeing data proprietary to the group and dismissed a Petrocorp application for Ngaere just before taking title to the license.