The Southern Hemisphere's "Roaring 40s"" -- a band of howling winds and mountainous seas in sub-Antarctic waters -- still strike fear in the hearts of mariners.
Next year, US oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp and OMV AG, Austria's largest company by sales, will enter this terror-inspiring seascape south of New Zealand to search four exploration blocks for natural gas and oil.
It's one of the latest examples of the lengths to which oil companies will go to hunt for new resources to feed an energy-hungry world rapidly consuming easily accessible supplies.
Elsewhere, US companies have drilled wells 10km into the earth beneath the Gulf of Mexico, this winter Norway will export gas from the seas north of the Arctic Circle, and off Sakahalin island in Far East Russia natural gas will soon be exported from seas that freeze almost six months of the year.
A significant find off New Zealand would hugely benefit the country's economy by bringing in royalties and investment dollars and -- perhaps more importantly -- replenishing the country's natural gas reserves, which could run out in 20 years at current use rates.
The potential is enormous. The government has said unproven estimates for the Great South Basin, which stretches 450km from the South Island's southern coastline toward the Antarctic coast, suggest it contains almost 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent, mostly in natural gas.
That's nearly 10 times the output from New Zealand's biggest gas and oil field, called Maui, over the last 25 years.
"A really big discovery like a Maui field would be worth billions to the economy," said John Pfahlert, executive officer of New Zealand's Petroleum Exploration Production Association.
Should Exxon and OMV decide to drill, the projects could bring in as much as NZ$1.2 billion (US$855 million) in investment from the two companies, New Zealand Associate Energy Minister Harry Duynhoven said.
But commercial production from fields could still be more than 20 years away, some experts say.
That's a potential problem for New Zealand, which is steadily exhausting its reserves of natural gas, used to produce 30 percent of the country's electricity.
Without new discoveries, New Zealand will likely run out of natural gas resources in 20 years. That would probably force New Zealand to import liquefied natural gas from abroad at higher prices and invest in receiving terminals and reconversion plants -- or turn to some other form of energy such as coal or oil to fill the gap.
The country's known reserves stand at just 200 million barrels of oil and 62 billion cubic meters of gas, some of the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region. Australia, for example, has more than 20 times the oil and more than 40 times the gas.
Without offshore gas flows, the government would also stand to lose an income source. Between 1970 and 2005, the government has collected over NZ$2.8 billion in petroleum royalties.
Industries that depend on gas byproducts such as methanol and fertilizer also would be affected.
Still, exploring for potential oil and gas fields underneath the ocean is expensive and time-consuming, especially in the rough seas south of New Zealand. North Sea waters off Scotland "look like a mill pond" by comparison, Pfahlert said.
First, the companies will spend two to three years taking seismic readings, and then another two to three years to test drilling promising target areas.
"There's a 27-month program of testing that will establish just what the potential for oil and gas discoveries is ... [and] that will mean a drilling program would be [at] the earliest late 2009, early 2010," Sydney-based Exxon Mobil spokeswoman, Samantha Potts said.
Environmental assessment is currently under way and the seismic testing could begin about the end of the year, she said.
There's always the risk that search will turn up very little -- or that the gas might be too difficult or expensive to extract. The Great South Basin is, after all, "frontier wildcat drilling area," an oil industry term for a region where no resources have yet been found.
Once they've gathered the data, Exxon and OMV will have to weigh whether it's worth drilling.
"The cost of drilling wells ... will be very major so you have to ensure the size of the prize is worth it," said Dave Darby, senior geologist and business development manager with state-funded agency, GNS Science.
One offshore well cost an average of about US$15 million to drill last year, according to the Web site of oil researcher Energyfiles, and costs go up in harsh environments and deep water.
Locally owned Greymouth Petroleum, which also won an exploration permit in the Great South Basin, has committed to an initial work program worth NZ$23 million for seismic work, according to its Web site. The company has five years from July to complete seismic work and then drill and evaluate one exploration well.
Exxon Mobil's and OMV's exploration concessions are farther offshore than Greymouth's holding, and their groups will probably have to spend more on both seismic and drilling.
The two have declined to provide spending plans for their seismic and exploration programs.
Despite the costs and difficulties, experts say the area holds promise.
"The opportunity to find more gas has the potential for a very significant economic spinoff" for New Zealand, said Chris Stone, a geologist and energy analyst with McDougall Stuart Securities.
"The benefits of exploration in New Zealand are quite extraordinary," he said.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under