Tuesday, November 27, 2012 • Wynsley Wrigley
APACHE will not use fracking if Gisborne District Council grants the Canadian oil and gas company consent to explore for oil at Punawai inland from Te Karaka.
Alex Ferguson, the company’s senior adviser, says Apache has modified everything and adopted a measured exploratory approach.
The company sent its resource consent application to the council on Sunday.
Apache planned to drill to explore for oil — without using hydraulic fracturing — and then seal the site before making any further decisions, he said.
If oil was discovered and it was not feasible to access it without fracking, Apache would “probably sit down and think about it for a few months”.
“Do we want to come back and ask if we can frack?”
Fracking was “tenuous” for the company because it was an expensive technique.
Mr Ferguson said fracking was a method of stimulating the area by breaking rock to make channels to allow hydro-carbons to flow.
The surface at Punawai was similar to that of California, in that it was naturally fractured.
Fears of thousands of wells appearing in the district were unjustified, he said.
Wells cost between $10 million and $15m each.
Mr Ferguson said 60 wells would consume 10 percent of the company’s global annual spend.
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Jan Wright, was due to release her interim report on hydraulic fracturing this afternoon.
“If New Zealand declares a moratorium on fracturing — OK ,” said Mr Ferguson.
“It’s not our business, it’s New Zealand’s business.”
Mr Ferguson said the commissioner could be looking at the regulatory regime.
Apache had suggested in submissions that a robust regulatory model was required to provide better oversight and public confidence.
A centralised system could be beneficial, as regulators could access the expertise that already existed in Taranaki. The oil industry also shared many similarities with the geo-thermal industry.
Full-scale mining in Gisborne, if it went ahead, was 10 years away. It was important for the regulatory regime to be in place by then.
Mr Ferguson worked on the regulatory side of the oil industry in British Columbia before joining Apache a year ago.
He said there was a huge shale industry in British Columbia.
In five-and-a-half years there had been no contamination issues there or in neighbouring Alberta.
Technology had improved significantly over the past 60 years but the industry was not immune to social pressure and public perception.
There were people who opposed the use of carbon-based resources.
“That is a different type of discussion.”
The New Zealand Government had made the decision to explore.
“My role is to get it done and get it done right.”
Apache had an excellent working relationship with Te Aitanga a Mahaki.
“We don’t know if we are going to be here for the long-term,” said Mr Ferguson.
“When we leave I want them to be able to say, we are sad to see you go.”