New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd has been given a new permit to explore the Taranaki Basin.
The permit is for an area of more than 1,000 square kilometres, next to an area recently explored by the company where only non-commercial traces of hydrocarbons were found.
The area has been explored by several companies over the last 40 years, but exploration manager Mac Beggs believes the area has potential. He says a decision on drilling will be made in the next year or two.
